The Chosen One
by tonksfan94
Summary: A slightly different Halloween brings huge changes to the story we all know and love. Follow Harry as Neville gets the scar and the title but is he The Chosen One? Independent! Smarter! Powerful! Harry, B-W-L! Neville, pairing: HONKS! and much, much more inside...
1. Prologue: Families Ruined Part I

THE CHOSEN ONE

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the other characters, they are the property of J. K. Rowling; I am merely playing with them in this piece of fiction. No money is being made by this.

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A/N: Here's my new Harry Potter story with Neville as the Boy-who-Lived. Pairing again will be Harry/Tonks with a Harry Potter quite a bit more intelligent than he was in canon. Minor bashing can happen, no slash.

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Chapter 1

Prologue: Part 1

Families Ruined: Lines Drawn, Sides Chosen

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**15 May, 1981**

**The Hog's Head pub**

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was getting increasingly disappointed as he was interviewing Sybill Trelawney, the descendant of famous seer Cassandra Trelawney, for the post of divination professor in Hogwarts. He was entirely against letting the subject continue but had agreed to meet the young woman only due to respect for her ancestor.

"Sybill dear, why don't you exhibit your skill in palmistry now?" Albus said after nearly half an hour of enduring baseless predictions using tea leaves, crystal balls and what not; not to mention the perpetual smell of sherry around the woman. He was getting quite exasperated by the interview, not to mention that the war against his former pupil now known as Dark Lord Voldemort was taking its toll on both his mind and body.

"As you wish, Albus." Sybill said nervously, she too knew that the interview was going on horribly and it was her last chance to get this job which she needed desperately.

Taking the old headmaster's right palm in her hand she started to adopt a hoarse voice; knowing that the old professor was a key figure in the ongoing war against pureblood supremacists, she decided to say something about the war.

"Hmm, I can 'See', Albus, the war is going to go in your favour in near future; the Dark Lord shall be defeated by the hands, by the hands of…"he said but at the end part her eyes rolled in the back of her head and her posture became stiff, her voice became genuinely hoarse and she started to give the sentences which would change the lives of several families in less than six months' time.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord has come ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month died ..." there was a sound outside the door at this point but Albus was too enraptured in the prophecy to notice.

Outside the door Severus Snape cursed his luck and disapparated out before he could be caught hearing the footsteps coming from the stairs. Aberforth Dumbledore came to the hallway outside the room where his elder brother was interviewing a woman for a post in Hogwarts but found no one there, shaking his head, he cast a privacy ward outside and went back to his post in the bar.

"and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live in peace while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord has born as the seventh month died ..."

Dumbledore leaned back in shock; he could not even comprehend what he had just listened. Sybill too was coming to her senses; he hid his shock and patted her on the back.

"Are you alright, my dear?" he asked as Sybill shook her head to clear it.

"Oh, I am completely fine Albus; it seems to happen to me a few times." She said still shaking her head.

"Perfectly understandable, my dear; oh and I believe congratulations are in order, you are selected for the post." He said patting her on the back once again as his mind whirled around pondering on the events that had transpired just a few minutes back.

Trelawney jumped up and hugged him in happiness before regaining her composure and jumping apart.

"Yes, congratulations, Sybill; but I must go now, I have much work to do." Albus said with a chuckle as his eyes twinkled momentarily and walked out of the room.

As he reached the bar downstairs, his brother Aberforth called him over and murmured in his ear, "Someone was eavesdropping on your conversation upstairs, they were gone before I could apprehend them though."

Albus' eyes lost their twinkle as he regarded his younger brother carefully before nodding and walking out deep in thought.

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**15 May, 1981**

**Headmaster's office,**

**Hogwarts**

Albus Dumbledore exited his pensieve after depositing and reviewing the latest memories. He put his wand to his temple and pulled out another long string of memories and deposited them in the pensieve before entering the device himself.

About an hour later he exited the pensieve once again but this time there was a weariness and sorrow in his posture that was not present before. Fawkes, his loyal companion, trilled a tune to cheer him up but it did not help much.

"Old friend, I just hope that we can save these families from being torn apart." He said to the phoenix before standing and retiring to his sleeping quarters.

On the desk, the pensieve showed two couples; a messy black-haired, bespectacled man with a red haired woman with striking green eyes and a tall brown haired man with a short blonde woman; each carrying a baby boy strikingly similar to their respective fathers.

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**16 May, 1981**

**Potter Manor, Wales**

Albus Dumbledore popped into existence just outside of the ancestral home of the Potters and regarded its beauty for a few minutes examining the exquisite landscape and the powerful wards around the house before tapping the gate with his wand to signal his arrival to the owners.

The door was opened by James Potter who was pointing his wand at Albus and asked in a gruff voice eerily similar to that of his friend Alastor Moody "What was the first thing Minerva said when Harry was born?"

"He better not be a prankster like his father or I will retire before he attends Hogwarts." Albus replied with a chuckle.

James opened the door fully and ushered the old headmaster in to the house. "Welcome Albus. So, what brings you here today?"

"Grave business, James; I trust Lily is in the house?" Albus said in a very serious voice.

Hearing the tone of his voice James looked at him curiously and nodded before going back inside to fetch his wife while Dumbledore settled himself in an armchair in the living room. Lily and James entered a few minutes later and looked at him curiously.

Without preamble, Albus started to speak after they had settled down in their chair; "Yesterday, I interviewed Sybill Trelawney in the Hog's Head for the post of Divination teacher," he began and both James and Lily rolled their eyes.

"There was a prophecy made there, about a boy born at the end of July to the parents who have thrice defied Voldemort, the boy will have the power to defeat the Dark Lord." He spoke and both paled as the implications sunk in, they had defied Voldemort personally three times before Harry James Potter was born and there had been no encounter with the Dark Lord after that.

"Both young Harry and Neville Longbottom fulfill the criteria of the prophecy." Albus spoke confirming their fears.

"But Albus, how can a baby defeat that, that monster?" Lily and James asked simultaneously.

"The prophecy was not very clear at this point but that's not what I am here to discuss. There was a spy of Voldemort in the pub and he overheard the first few lines of the prophecy, he disapparated before he could be apprehended; I have every reason to believe that he has told Voldemort by now and he would be turning his full attention towards finding and killing the prophecy child." He spoke and both Lily and James paled even further.

"What do you suggest then Albus?" James asked keeping his composure even as Lily broke into tears at the mere thought of Voldemort coming after her son.

"A Fidelius charm, it can be used to keep your location a secret from all world so Voldemort would not be able to find you." Albus spoke after a moment of thought.

"How does that work?" James asked.

"It is the most powerful charm, it is used to hide the secret in a person's soul; they would have to willingly give up the secret otherwise no one will know it." Lily explained.

"That would work, I can be the secret keeper; Lily, you can cast the charm?" James said and Lily nodded.

"Alas, the secret keeper cannot live inside the dwelling, the charm loses power if done so; I can be the secret keeper if you wish." Albus spoke.

"No Albus, you are burdened enough as it is; we shall discuss it with Sirius, he would be the best bet for secret keeper." James said and Albus nodded and left the manor to disapparate to the Longbottom Estate.

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**16 May, 1981**

**Longbottom Estate,**

**Unknown**

"Absolutely not, I will not hide from that coward." Augusta Longbottom roared shooting down the proposal of Albus Dumbledore to go into hiding using Fidelius.

"But my dear lady, are you sure that the wards here would be enough to stop Voldemort?" Albus asked in annoyance.

"Longbottom wards have never failed before and they will not fail now." Augusta spoke with conviction and Dumbledore sighed before leaving.

He waved his wan d around the estate muttering a few unintelligible chants under his breath to set up a few more powerful wards before Disapparating back to Hogwarts.

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**15 May 1981**

**Unknown Location**

Severus Snape Apparated to the headquarters of the Dark Lord after nearly being caught eavesdropping on Albus Dumbledore. 'A prophecy; Dark lord will give great reward for providing this news.' He thought happily as he made his way to the throne room where the Dark Lord and his inner circle were usually found.

He knocked on the heavy doors and they opened without a sound revealing the inner circle in a meeting with the snake-like Dark Lord.

"Ah Snape, can't you see I am in a meeting?" Voldemort hissed and Snape felt a Legilimency probe smashing past his shields.

Bowing deeply he said in a voice forcefully kept even as his head pounded with the force of a herd of hippogriffs "My lord, I bring urgent news."

Voldemort raised an eyebrow in curiosity and Snape continued "I overheard that muggle loving old fool Dumbledore; he was given a prophecy by Sybill Trelawney."

Now Voldemort's interest was piqued; leaning forward in his throne he sneered "Continue."

"The prophecy went like this 'the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord has come ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month died ...'" Snape finished.

"Hmm, you have done well Snape, come sit; we must discuss this new development." Voldemort said and Snape was very pleased with himself; 'perhaps I too would be given a place in the inner circle.'

"My lord, that blood traitor Potter and Longbottom had children at the end of July last year; also Greengrass had a daughter in July last year." Bellatrix Lestrange spoke looking at Voldemort with absolute obsession in her crazy violet eyes.

Voldemort pondered for a few minutes before dismissing his death eaters for the night.

'Greengrass was a loyal death eater, he would not dare defying him; the only ones to even think of defying him were either with that old meddling teacher or that Bones bitch. Bones did not have a husband though she was said to be in a relationship with that Blood traitor Sirius Black; Black along with Potter and Longbottom had defied him three times personally. The Potter child is a half-blood as James Potter married that Mudblood Lily Evans and loath as he was to admit it he too was a half-blood making the boy almost equal to him in terms of lineage.' Voldemort thought as he gave orders for a raid against the McKinnons to his death Eaters and waited.

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**16 May, 1981**

**Same Location**

Voldemort summoned Snape and the inner circle to his throne room to discuss the new events.

"Since the Potter boy was born on 31 July, I have a reason to believe that he would be the greater threat of the two." Voldemort spoke and Snape paled beyond his normal complexion.

"I will kill both for sure but the Potter boy comes first. Dismissed; Snape stay back." He commanded and the inner circle filtered out Bellatrix lingering to give Snape a sneer before following others.

"You have done good work, Snape; time for your reward, ask and you shall receive." Voldemort said after doors were closed behind the other death eaters.

"I merely did my duty for the cause, my lord." Snape said bowing low and kissing the hem of Voldemort's robes.

"Ah, but the dark lord rewards every good job, ask Snape." Voldemort said in a commanding voice.

"When you attack the Potters, my lord; please spare the Mudblood, I don't care what happens to Potter or his brat but please spare the woman, I ask no more than this." Snape spoke as Voldemort raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Lord Voldemort is feeling good today, very well Snape, if that is what you want; I will not harm the Mudblood if she does not come in my way. Leave and send the rest in." Voldemort acquiesced after thinking for a minute.

Snape bowed once more and left quickly, very thankful for not being cruciated this time and his prize, 'Maybe Lily will see the error of her ways.' He thought triumphantly as he located the rest of the inner circle and sent them to Voldemort but in a closed off corner of his conscience, he feared, 'what have I done?'

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**Inner Circle Meeting**

**Same day, same location**

"Rookwood, Mulciber; you will scout out the wards around the Potter Ancestral home, we shall attack swiftly. You have ten hours." Voldemort ordered in the meeting of the inner circle.

"Of course, my lord." The two death eaters bowed and disapparated after kissing the hem of the Dark Lord's robes.

"Rudolph, Abraxas; the two of you will lead the assault, take Snape with yourself; prepare your teams; do not disappoint me." Voldemort thundered and the two senior death eaters bowed deeply waiting for further instructions.

Voldemort glared at his death eaters for a few moments before calling out "Dismissed." He waited for the death eaters to file out before banging the doors closed with a gesture of his hand, his gaze landed upon a long dagger with an ornate 'S' engraved upon it with something written in a squiggly script below the stylized 'S'. '_Soon enough, my goal shall be achieved.'_ He thought as he waited for the return of his death eaters.

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**Few hours later**

**Same Location**

Mulciber and Rookwood returned to the Dark Lord's Headquarters nearly twelve hours later Apparating in with a 'crack'. Both were sporting slightly smoking clothes and de-shelved appearance with a number of cuts and bruises visible on their faces.

Paying the newly recruited guards snickering at their appearance no mind both of them rushed to the throne room fearful of the punishment that their master would mete out to them for their late arrival and bad news.

Not even bothering to knock on the heavy doors, they rushed in straight in the path of a volley of Cruciatus curses courtesy of the Lestranges and Malfoys with the Dark Lord watching in amusement with some approval in his eyes as he regarded the only female Lestrange.

After nearly a minute of vicious torture by the six inner circle members, Voldemort held up his hand and stopped the torture. "What news do you bring that took you two hours more than your allotted time?" he asked without giving them any time to recover.

"The wards around the manor are too strong to be breached quietly and quickly." Mulciber began, "There are both defensive repelling wards and shield wards along with offensive wards which may now be put in the 'dark' category." Rookwood finished.

Voldemort raised a non-existent eyebrow at the news of a 'light' family using 'dark' wards. After pondering the new information for a minute he returned his gaze to the two and spoke in a menacing voice, "That still does not explain your lateness."

Both death eaters nearly shivered but answered nonetheless "We were ambushed by the aurors, master; they found us just as we were leaving, we just got away."

Voldemort just raised his wand and leveling at the two spoke "Crucio." It was evidence to his power that the screams tore from their mouths were almost louder than those when the inner circle tortured them. After nearly a minute of torture he gave his wand a slight flick and uttered "No matter what, Lord Voldemort expects his servants to follow his orders to the full."

The inner circle bowed deeply and filed away understanding the concealed order to leave their master alone.

Voldemort sat deep in the night making and remaking plans. 'Oh Potter, I will get you despite all the pathetic protections you may have employed.'

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A/N: So, how was it? *pulls out a wand, flicks it slightly*

**Imperio!**

**you will read this and click on the review button, give me your opinions!**

just kidding! please review though.

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PS: The other stories, namely 'Second Chance' and 'Remus' Mistake' have currently hit a writer's block, please bear with me, I am trying my best to put new chapters out.


	2. Prologue: Families Ruined Part II

THE CHOSEN ONE

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the other characters; they are the property of the amazing J. K. Rowling. I am merely playing with them. No money is being made by the means of this fanfiction.

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A/N: Here is the second part of the prologue. Be ready for action, blood and gore; some angst. Read at your own risk if violence offends you.

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Prologue: Part II

Families Ruined

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**Last chapter:**

_Sybill Trelawney makes a prophecy about the vanquisher of Dark Lord Voldemort, Snape overhears part of the prophecy and relays it to Voldemort; Dumbledore tosses up the idea of hiding under the Fidelius to both the Potters and the Longbottoms; Voldemort makes plans for attacking and killing the prophecy boys._

On with the chapter then…

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**Death Eater Headquarters**

**Unknown Location**

**17 May, 1981**

**Morning time**

It was a long night for the Dark Lord, he had spent the whole night awake sifting through his vast magical knowledge and poring over books stolen from a number of old families; but his work had paid off.

Lord Voldemort had finally readied a dampening device strong enough to dampen the effects of the wards around Potter Manor to almost negligibility. It was not strong enough to dampen extremely strong wards like the Ministry building, Hogwarts or even Azkaban but it could reduce smaller wards like those on pureblood manors to almost nothing.

He was about to call his inner circle members when a medallion given to his spy inside the pathetic Order of The Phoenix buzzed notifying him that the spy wanted to meet him in their usual spot. Lord Voldemort disapparated without a sound even as a pale Evan Rosier rushed into the throne room only to see his master Disapparating.

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**16 May, 1981**

**Late Night**

**Hogwarts Dungeons**

Albus Dumbledore, the leader of the light, Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Leader and founder of the Order of the Phoenix, and many more titles had called an Order meeting to discuss the recent events and discuss security of the two most targeted families.

One by one the Order members started filtering in looking haggard; the recent months had been extremely hard on the Order as the forces of the dark had torn through their ranks, suspicion of an spy in their midst were running rampant and Moody's paranoia was on its highest. So, it was no surprise that the paranoid old auror had fired off a curse as soon as the group of five loudly laughing friends entered the chamber.

The curse was batted away professionally in the direction of Moody himself by one of the members with the others providing cover and firing off curses of their own in Moody's direction.

Dumbledore flicked his wand to dispel all the magic going on before a full-blown fight could take place as Moody looked at his students approvingly.

"Good to see you lot remembering what I have taught ya; remember, CONSTANT VIGILANCE" moody thundered in praise as Sirius Black and James Potter rolled their eyes at him, "I saw that." Moody muttered at their antics but the group just chuckled with even Dumbledore joining in.

With the mood of the group sufficiently lifted Dumbledore started the meeting with mundane reports on the movements of werewolves, vampires and other dark creatures allying themselves with Voldemort. There had been an increase in the attacks countrywide in the past few months and as a result the Order was stretched quite thin; even the Ministry had now legalized the use of lethal force against the Death Eaters. This was a decision the Order was split upon with the younger crowd and Moody supporting it vehemently while the older people like Dumbledore, McGonagall, and others opposing it.

With the mundane dealt with, the meeting moved on to the more interesting topics.

"I have information to believe that Voldemort is going to target the Potters and the Longbottoms exclusively." Dumbledore began but was forced to stop as a cacophony of voices broke out.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Sirius thundered. Remus looked paler than usual while Peter looked very uncomfortable as Molly Weasley gasped loudly.

"What information are we talking about, Albus?" Moody questioned very quietly so that no one apart from Dumbledore could hear him.

"My goodness!" McGonagall clutched her heart.

Waving his wand to cast a canon-blast charm after a trio of booming "SILENCE" did not quieten the Order members up, Albus continued "As I was saying, I have information to believe that Voldemort is going to target the Potters and the Longbottoms exclusively; I have talked to both the parties in regard to this threat and have suggested the Fidelius Charm to hide them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter have accepted this and they have seven days to choose a secret keeper while Madam Longbottom has denied using the charm." Again he was interrupted as shouts broke out against the Longbottoms' decision but Dumbledore quieted them by holding his hand up.

"We must respect their decision and I have already erected my best protections around the ancestral Longbottom manor. Alastor, I need you to devise a security detail for the Potters and the Longbottoms so that we can be alerted swiftly in case of any attack." Dumbledore said and Moody nodded.

"Are there any more reports?" Dumbledore asked. No one spoke.

"In that case, this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix is now dismissed." He spoke and walked away looking deep in thought.

One by one the Order members started filtering out till only the marauders, Lily and Moody were remaining in the room. Moody walked towards the group of five where Lily was explaining the Fidelius to Sirius and Peter.

They straightened as he reached them and looked at him attentively. "Potter, Black; you will be the security detail at your manor, this is your official mission as well." He barked.

"Lupin, Pettigrew; you two carry out your missions as usual." He barked when the two remaining Marauders looked like they wanted to speak as well and glared at them until they nodded. With that he limped out leaving the group of five friends in the dungeons.

"So Lily-flower, Prongs; you two started on a little sister for Prongslet yet?" Sirius asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Lily blushed while James looked uncomfortable but said 'no' nonetheless.

"That didn't look like the case when I stayed over last weekend; the sounds you were making, poor little Prongslet will be traumatized for his life." Sirius spoke with a broad grin fully enjoying the tomato-red faces of his two friends as Remus and Peter guffawed loudly.

Still laughing the party parted ways and went away to their respective abodes. Although the mood was lightened by Sirius' joke, if one looked carefully they could see that Peter's face showed more anxiety than even Lily and James'.

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**Peter's Apartment**

**London**

**Same night**

Peter returned to his apartment in London after the Order meeting and immediately headed to bed to try and clear his thoughts, his betrayal of his friends was like a cloud on his mind and he yearned for the return of carefree days of the school, filled with pranks, laughter and just worry for grades in exams.

After nearly an hour of furious thinking to try and find a way that he would not have to betray his friends and convince the dark lord to go after the Longbottoms, sleep finally claimed the Rat Animagus.

Peter woke up the next morning with a slight idea, albeit a lame one, but if he played his cards right James and Lily would be safe. He touched the medallion given to him by the Dark Lord and donned his Death Eater robes before taking the secure floo to the meeting place.

The Dark Lord arrived at the meeting place just as the floo flared to life, Peter stumbled out of the floo and at the sight of the Dark Lord quickly scampered to him in a deep bow and kissed the hem of his robes.

"What news do you bring, rat?" Voldemort hissed and Peter nearly wet himself from the venom in his master's voice.

"Master, the muggle loving old fool knows of your plan to go after the Potters and the Longbottoms; he has proposed to hide them using the Fidelius."

"Hmm, anything else?"

"There is only seven days before the Potters go into hiding, the Longbottoms have declined." Peter squeaked carefully avoiding eye contact with Voldemort.

"Interesting information; you don't happen to know anything about the protections around the Longbottoms' house, do you?" Voldemort remarked and Peter jumped at the opportunity.

"Dumbledore has put some wards around their manor and has secured a security detail for them known to only that old auror Moody, apart from that thy have completely defensive wards which should not be too much to take down." Peter replied eager to redirect Voldemort's attention to attack the Longbottoms instead of the Potters.

"You have done well, rat; in fact you have done exceptionally well." Voldemort said finding no excuse to torture the pathetic rat for he had done a better job than even the Dark Lord had predicted.

"Thank you, master." Peter cried bowing down and kissing the hem of Voldemort's robes and returned to his apartment through the secure floo before the Dark Lord could change his mind.

Voldemort pondered the information given by the rat for a while before a grin grew on his face, a plan already forming in his cunning mind; he too disapparated to his headquarters sending a signal to his Inner Circle to be ready for a meeting.

**Voldemort's Base**

**Unknown Location**

Voldemort Apparated into his throne room without a sound and found his Inner circle already waiting, ready for the meeting.

"We will attack the Potter Manor tomorrow." He spoke and the death eaters cheered a little. "Abraxas." He called and a tall, blonde man stepped forward bowing low and saying, "Yes, my lord."

"You will lead the attack; take any death eaters you wish; do not fail me." Voldemort finished the last in an impatient hiss.

"Of course, my lord." Abraxas said nearly shivering with fear; amongst the death eaters, his son Lucius Malfoy sat a little straighter in his seat.

"Yaxley." Voldemort ordered and a short, brown-haired, middle-aged man with pale blue eyes stepped forward bowing low and waiting for his orders as Voldemort stared at him for a few moments with his scarlet eyes trying to make him uncomfortable. Yaxley resisted his urge to squirm or flinch as he held the Dark lord's gaze.

Final, Voldemort spoke, "You will take a group of recruits and run interference with the aurors and the Order during our mission. Hit muggle villages but wait for the aurors to arrive before causing any serious damage. Engage them and keep them distracted. We cannot afford to have the aurors arrive and ruin our main plan of the evening, can we?" Voldemort hissed obviously pleased with Yaxley's performance in his last mission.

Yaxley bowed low and walked out of the chamber after kissing the hem of Voldemort's robes to recruit death eaters for his mission and prepare them to acceptable standards.

**Next evening**

"Abraxas." Voldemort called forth the team leader from his inner circle as they met for the pre-mission meeting, "Have you considered which Death eaters you would command for tonight's mission?"

"Yes, my lord." Abraxas said and bowed low before calling forth, "Lucius, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Rabastan, Dolohov, Snape, Robert Lestrange, Mulciber and Rookwood."

"Explain your reasoning, Malfoy." Voldemort hissed staring the man down. He likes the men who could think for themselves, not overly so; but enough that they can plan and execute orders to his expectations.

"The Lestranges are good duelists, they will help subduing the Potters and any guards they can have. Mulciber and Rookwood have prior knowledge of the manor's wards and will provide us cover after taking the wards down. Dolohov, Snape and Lucius will look out for any back up the order might have and provide us with time to bring the Potter brat to you, my lord." The Malfoy patriarch replied giving a deep bow in the end.

"Astute as always, Abraxas." Voldemort praised; "Now, this is something that would help with the wards; just put it at the edge of the wards and it would help weaken them immensely." Voldemort said giving the man a pendant which was glowing faintly. He had worked on this the night before.

"Thank you my lord; this trinket will help in our mission immensely." Abraxas said giving another bow and kissing the hem of Voldemort's robes before returning to his place in the circle.

"Prepare yourselves; failure is not an option in this mission. Dismissed." Voldemort boomed and the inner circle scurried away.

When he was alone once again, he turned and called forth one of his most trusted lieutenants, Evan Rosier Sr.; he had plans for the Longbottoms when the Order was busy with the Potters and other diversions.

**Elsewhere**

**Immediately Afterwards**

The atmosphere outside reflected the turmoil in the soul of one Severus Snape perfectly. He had just returned to his apartment at the Spinner's end after the meeting of the Dark Lord's Inner circle and was chosen for a raid against the Potters.

One one hand he had the opportunity to kill Potter, who had made his school years hell with his bullying friends, that murdering psychopath Black, that filthy werewolf Lupin and that coward Pettigrew; while on the other hand he was just about to attack Lily, his first friend and he 'love' of his life.

He did not know what to do. He had asked the Dark Lord to spare her life as his reward for obtaining the prophecy but the dark Lord was not even going to be there in today's raid. He would have to make sure that she would be unharmed. But how?

Here he got an idea, he would go to Dumbledore; apparently, only he was the one feared by the Dark Lord himself; he would make sure Lily is safe; Snape would just have to ensure her safety for today.

Summoning a piece of parchment he wrote a letter to his old Headmaster asking for a meeting in Hogsmeade and posted it using express delivery in the Post Office at Diagon Alley.

Dumbledore's reply came just as the time for raid was nearing; there was just enough time for Snape to don his DE robs and make a quick visit to the village and disapparate to the DE Headquarters immediately afterwards.

Snape put on his best scared face, a feat made considerably easier by the use of Occlumency, and Disapparated to Hogsmeade.

He arrived to a raging storm with lightening flashing immediately as he arrived. He did not even have to use Occlumency to plant the impression of fear on his face as the thunder was obviously magical in nature created by Dumbledore's arrival.

"Don't kill me, lease don't kill me." Snape begged as Dumbledore appeared in a furious mood as was obvious by his stony face and the tightness around his eyes and lips.

"You know very well Severus that I believe in giving second chances." Dumbledore spoke to placate his fear.

"You have to save Lily, the dark Lord believes that the Potter child is the one mentioned in prophecy." Snape said.

"That is a result of your own actions. What do you want from me?" Dumbledore spoke.

"I already asked the Dark Lord to spare her life; I just want to be sure." Snape squeaked.

"You disgust me, Severus; tell me, what of the child? Would you be able to lie with yourself if Lily's child died due to your actions; would she ever forgive you if she knew?"

'She would never know; and I don't care about the child as long as she is alive; she would come around, I am sure.' He thought but spoke, "Hide all of them then, today is going to be a raid against them." He supplied to hasten Dumbledore's decision.

"Is Voldemort going to be the one to lead?" Dumbledore asked interested by this revelation.

Snape cringed a little at the Dark Lord's name but spoke, "No, the Dark Lord had another business he needs to attend to."

Just then, the dark mark on his arm burned in pain and he clutched it, "I have to go now, the Dark Lord calls." Snape spoke and Apparated away.

'Another business, Tom; what could be more important to you than eliminating the prophecy child? The Longbottom boy! He is going to attack there using the Potters as a distraction.' Dumbledore's mind raced fast and he sent a patronus message to Moody, The Longbottoms and Apparated himself away to the Longbottoms' home.

**Voldemort's Headquarters**

**Same time approximately**

Voldemort rubbed his medallion given to the spy inside the Order of the Phoenix and waited for his arrival. Pettigrew portkeyed inside the throne room after a few seconds and bowed deeply. "My Lord." He said in greeting and waited for his orders.

"Rosier is going to lead a team to Longbottoms' Home shortly; you will go with him in your other form and scout out the area for who are the defenders there; report bah to me immediately." Voldemort hissed.

Pettigrew sighed in relief, his master was not going to attack the Potters, he nodded quickly and bowed once more before turning into his Animagus form of a brown rat nicknamed 'Wormtail' by his friend Sirius and scurried out of the room looking for Rosier.

**Longbottom Manor**

Dumbledore, Moody and most of the order including more than a few notable aurors were in the sitting room of Longbottom manor which was magically expanded to make room for all the people gathered. Dumbledore had relayed the information of an impending attack by Voldemort himself on the manor and now Moody was forming a plan to capture at least a few death eaters and if possible, end this war here and now.

"Okay, Robards; take the best warders and put an anti-transport ward around the manor; make it so that it can only allow people in but they can't go out. Once they get in, modify the wards not to let anyone else in." Moody ordered and Gawain Robards walked ou of the room followed by Diggle and Doge.

"Albus, you take on the dark tosser as soon as he arrives; rest on me; engage any and all Death Eaters, we are playing for keeps here." Moody barked.

"Now, now Alastor; you know everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselv" Albus began to say but was cut off by Moody mid-sentence.

"We are not winning this war by stunning them, Albus; tell me, how many fighters have we lost in the past months? We don't even get to keep the prisoners we stun due to mass portkeys. I say we kill any and all that arrives, close the huge gap between us and them a bit." Moody barked. During his rant, there were a lot of attempts to speak by various members of the Order but no one dared interrupt him

"I have made my opinion perfectly clear on this matter." Albus spoke with finality in his voice and it was clear to Moody that he would not listen to anyone else.

"Very well; aurors, you have been given orders to use lethal force, keep them in mind or I will make your life hell in the office." Moody barked to the gathering. The aurors shifted nervously, they did not know who to follow, the best auror to date or the defeater of Grindelwald.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's meet them outside; Frank, Alice; you stay in, if anyone gets in, kill them." Moody ordered and the party moved out with Frank saying, "Alice and mother can handle anyone who gets in, I am going to fight."

Moody shook his head and walked outside behind the younger man drawing his wand in anticipation.

They had been waiting in a crescent line for about ten minutes when a large group portkeyed in but no Voldemort in sight. As the fight begun with shouts of 'Avada Kedavra' and a variety of curses lighting up the night with a multitude of colours, no one saw a fat rat scurrying away from the manor and disappearing after three failed attempts due to the wards.

**Potter Manor**

A group of ten people wearing black robes and masks portkeyed outside the Potter manor's impressive wards. One of them quickly took out a pendant from his robes and put it on the ward boundary and waited for a sign. Two other waved their wands in complex patterns and monitored the strength of wards.

Inside, five friends were relaxing after a dinner party. Lily Potter was singing her son, Harry James, to sleep while the lord of the house, James Potter was laughing at some joke. Two of his best friends, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were laughing too though Sirius looked a bit red in face while the fifth occupant, Amelia Bones, four years older than any other in the group, was impersonating a tomato if the colour of her face was anything to go by.

This was because James had finally taken his revenge on Sirius by getting Remus to spy on Sirius and his girlfriend Amelia; and he was now milking the opportunity to embarrass the couple to the full.

He was about to start another joke when he felt the wards getting weaker through the head of the house ring on his finger. He frowned and said, "Wards are getting weaker. We are being attacked." He cried in warning as the strength of the wards continued to decline.

"How much time?" Lily and Sirius asked at the same time.

"Twenty to thirty minutes tops." James replied frantically.

"Activate the secondary wards; I will contact Moody; Lily, contact the order." Sirius cried as he started to wave his wand in well-practiced pattern to message Alastor Moody.

James too was muttering chants quickly as he activated the second layer of defensive wards while Lupin and Amelia drew their wands and waited for further orders. Usually, they were the most level-headed persons in the group but after the danger to Harry became known to him, Sirius had matured quite a bit and it was clearly on display now a he kept a clear head and reacted to the situation quickly.

After nearly five minutes when no message came back, the group decided to meet the death eaters outside in a move to surprise them. "Lily, please stay back, we will message you if we are outnumbered." Sirius spoke and Lily looked like she wanted to argue but James did not give her any time to rant as he spoke, "Leave it, Lily; the wards are just five minutes from getting down, Harry comes first." Lily nodded reluctantly and took position inside the manor.

The four defenders raced out and James dropped the primary wards to further surprise their attackers. They were soon engaged by the ten attackers and even vastly outnumbered; they met their attackers with equal, if not greater, vigor.

In an attempt to eliminate the last male black and secure the vast fortune for their respective families; Abraxas Malfoy and Robert Lestrange attacked Sirius from the start. Also seeing his most hated enemy, Snape too pounced upon Sirius at the first opportunity. Seein her blood-traitor of a cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange too attacked Sirius, cackling madly as he ducked and dodged and shielded in an attempt to save himself from the four-on-one situation he was forced into.

Ames, in his duel with the Lestrange brothers, saw Sirius surrounded and quickly sent a message to his wife as Amelia and Lupin were in no position to help as they were each battling two on their own too.

Lily rushed to Sirius' aid and fired a cutting curse at one of his attackers. The curse hit his mask and it shattered to reveal greasy, limp black hair and a pale face of her friend of a long time, Severus Snape. "Sev…" she gasped in shock and froze.

Abraxas turned to their new attacker and saw 'the Mudblood wife of Potter', seeing his opportunity, he fired a dark curse at her that she shielded just in time; some effect seeped through, though and Lily cried out in pain clutching her stomach.

Hearing her cry of pain, Sirius saw red and managed to fire a piercing curse at Abraxas' chest following up with a Reductor at Bellatrix and Robert. Seeing Snape standing with his and in Lily's direction, Sirius quickly disarmed and stunned him as he rushed to her side. Snape was shocked to see Lily attacking him and then getting hurt, so he could not react to Sirius' curses and fell limp after being hit by the stunner.

"Lils, are you alright?" Sirius asked as soon as he reached her all the while shielding them from Lestranges' fire.

"I'm fine." Lily replied after catching her breath and ignoring the pain engaged Bellatrix as Sirius started to duel Robert.

James was managing to hold his own against the Lestrange brothers fine enough and was managing to fire curses of his own in between them. Amelia had her hands full with Rookwood and Lucius and though she was a rather skilled duelist, Lucius was quite skilled while Rookwood's unknown spells were making it difficult for her to get on the offensive. Lupin was doing fine against Mulciber and Dolohov due to his werewolf reflexes, he had managed to hit Mulciber with a cutting curse and stunned him as Dolohov was disoriented by a prank spell.

**Voldemort's Headquarters**

Peter Pettigrew portkeyed in the throne room from the Longbottom Manor and quickly relayed the information of the fight there to the Dark Lord.

"Master, most of the Order is at the Longbottoms'; Dumbledore is there too." Peter squeaked.

'Hmm, that muggle loving old fool is at Longbottoms'; going there has a great chance of failure, Potters will be an easier target at the moment.' Voldemort planned and quickly ordered Pettigrew to brew some potions as it was the only thing the rat was good at.

"Very good, Wormtail. Leave, I will need a batch of blood replenishing potion in the morning." Voldemort ordered and dismissed Pettigrew to keep him out of the fight at the Potters lest he betrays himself out of some twisted sense of loyalty to his friends.

'Pathetic Gryffindor.' Voldemort thought as took a group of death eaters, just in case, and portkeyed Potter's ancestral manor.

**Potter Manor**

At the manor, the fight was going well in the favor of the Light side. Sirius had gotten the better of Robert Lestrange due to better reflexes and younger age. The Lestrange patriarch now lay dead as an effect of a Reductor to the head. James had subdued Rabastan and was gaining the upper hand on Rodolphus. Lupin was faring well against Dolohov; Mulciber lying stunned, disarmed and bound a few feet away from him. Amelia had managed to subdue Lucius by some spectacular dual wand wielding and was in the process of wining her duel against Rookwood.

Lily, on the other hand was not faring that well as Bellatrix was a very skilled and fierce duelist and Lily was injured too. She clutched her stomach again and vomited blood as Bellatrix sensing opportunity fired off a Cruciatus curse at her; Lily's screams of pain were like a song to the witch as she cackled but to her detriment, Sirius too heard Lily and rushed to her aid firing curses at top speed, his eyes darkened with rage.

It was an evidence of how good a duelist Bellatrix was that she had little difficulty in keeping up with Sirius who was one of the best duelists the Order had; Lily' cries of pain had also reached James' ears and he quickly stunned Rodolphus and rushed to his wife who was now vomiting blood and shaking uncontrollably.

"She needs help, Prongs; take her and go. Contego!" Sirius cried shielding his friends from Bellatrix's furious assault.

James nodded and carried Lily off the battlefield into the manor and tried to floo off to the resident Hogwarts healer, Madam Pomfrey. He couldn't as the death eaters had put an anti-transport ward of their own around the manor closing off all means of transport, so he started to tend to Lily's wounds and sent a message to Moody.

Free from the distraction of shielding his friends, Sirius turned his full attention to his cousin Bellatrix. Both Blacks were equally matched as the slashed and waved their wands in air looking like they were holding swords emitting jets of light in place of wooden sticks. Curses equally dark and lethal flew between the cousins and were either dodged or shielded; as the duel increased in ferocity, the air around them crackled with electricity and a thunderstorm could be heard in the distance.

Amelia Bones finished off her opponent Rookwood after overwhelming his shield with a multitude of stunners and rushed off to help Sirius while the duel between Lupin and Dolohov was almost at a standstill.

**Longbottom Manor**

The group of the death eaters tasked to attack Longbottom manor was met with more than an adequate defence and the battle started with a bang with green jets of the killing curse and red and blue of bone exploding spells and stunners primarily fired off by the groups. The firefight soon turned into individual duels with Dumbledore attracting the attention of Parkinson and Nott who attacked the old headmaster with intentions of gaining favor from their lord.

Moody was systematically finishing off Eric Rosier by a trio of piercing curses to his chest and head when Evan, Eric's father joined in the duel in a vain attempt to save his son's life. He fought like a man possessed and managed to land a dark cutting curse on the auror who twisted in time to lose only a part of his nose to the curse. Evan's cry of happiness was cut off by the green of Avada Kedavra and he too lost his life.

Due to a vast numerical advantage on the Order's side, the fight soon ended in their favor with more than ten death eaters dead or otherwise captured while the rest portkeyed away once they were out of the range of the ward.

Moody was just checking the ropes on a captured Gibbons when a stag patronus materialized in front of him. James Potter's frantic voice said "Attack on the manor, Lily hurt; need help now!" Moody had not had the time to react to the patronus as the fight was still going on despite the Order on the winning side for the most part.

Abou after five minutes when most of the death eaters had fled, another patronus materialized in front of Moody in the shape of a badger, Amelia Bones' frantic voice shouted; "Voldemort at the Potters' need help. NOW!"

"Robards, you are in-charge here; Voldemort at the Potters', let's go people." This was a frantic shout by Moody and was heard by most of the Order and they disapparated quickly taking down their anti-transport ward.

**Potter Manor**

Amelia was halted in her tracks when a group of four more death eaters arrived in space between her and Sirius via a portkey. She quickly fired curses at the new additions with both her wands and had drawn their attention successfully. Lupin, seeing this quickly threw a marble at Dolohov, the throw enhance with werewolf strength, disoriented Dolohov enough for Lupin to stun and bind him, and he too rushed off to help Amelia and even the odds a little.

On the other side, Bellatrix got a cocky smirk on her face and started dueling Sirius with renewed vigor; taken aback by the renewed ferocity in his cousin's assault, Sirius missed the arrival of Dark Lord via portkey. This was, however, not missed by Amelia who quickly sent a messenger patronus to Moody informing him of the new development and rushed off to help Sirius belatedly realizing that Lily and James were trapped inside.

Sensing no way to get the attention of the dark lord to herself other than outright attacking him, she shouted "AVADA KEDAVRA" mustering up all of her hate against the snake like man. This got the attention of Sirius and Bellatrix as well as that of Voldemort who stopped in his tracks and conjured a marble slab to intercept the killing curse.

Bellatrix, enraged that a 'blood traitor bitch' would attack her master engaged Amelia while Sirius tried to stop Voldemort from entering the manor. Lupin took advantage of the momentary shock amongst the death eaters to stun and bind two more, another one previously defeated by Amelia, thus evening the odds.

Sirius was on his last legs both physically and magically inside one minute of the start of his duel with Voldemort; half of which the Dark Lord had spent trying to convince him to join their noble cause. Just as Sirius' defeat was becoming imminent; Moody and Dumbledore Apparated in, Dumbledore intercepting a killing curse in Sirius' way by levitating a branch thus getting the dark lord's attention.

Voldemort and Dumbledore started to duel while Moody tried to help Amelia against Bellatrix when the rest of the order from Longbottom manor arrived tilting the fight in the favour of the light side by a huge margin. Seeing this, Voldemort Apparated away, Bellatrix too activated a linked portkey to take away herself and her still alive comrades leaving order and dead death eaters in the manor's grounds.

"Lily is hurt badly, she needs Madam Pomfrey immediately." Sirius shouted after Voldemort disapparated. Hearing this, Dumbledore moved with an astonishing speed to the manor and sent Lily to Hogwarts infirmary while giving the others orders to move to Hogwarts and take the dead bodies to the ministry.

**Hogwarts**

Though most of the fighters suffered numerous minor wounds and injuries, Lily and Sirius were the worst off; Lily had been hit by an ancient dark curse and though she had managed to shield herself partially, she would not be able to give birth anymore as some of the effects had seeped through her hasty shield. She would have to spend around a week in the hospital wing.

Sirius, on the other hand had many broken bones and he would have to spend almost two days inside the hospital wing as he was magically exhausted and he needed to regain his strength for the healing potions to work to their expectations.

**Order headquarters**

**Hogwarts dungeons**

"We have gathered here today to discuss the events of the previous night. You all know very well that both Potters and the Longbottoms were attacked in their manors yesterday. We had anticipated the attack on the Longbottoms and were able to react to it accordingly. The result of the attack being ten captured death eaters, among them notable names being, Travers, Gibbons, Jugson, Parkinson, Nott, Avery; dead death eaters include Evan Rosier Sr., Eric rosier, Evan rosier Jr. this was a huge victory for us though I do not condone the use of lethal force by one of our own." Albus said, looking at Moody on the last part; moody for his credit just rolled his eyes and muttered something unintelligible heard only by James who chuckled loudly.

"The attack on the Potters, though, was unanticipated and I must commend misters Lupin, Black, Potter, Miss Bones and Mrs. Potter for their brave actions in meeting the death eaters with adequate force and defending the manor successfully." Dumbledore continued but at this point huge applause broke out from Fabian and Gideon Prewett. "Yes, yes; we applaud your courage. Voldemort too made an appearance there but fled when his defeat became apparent once Alastor and I arrived on the scene with most of the order."

"As a result of the attack, Lord Malfoy and Lestrange both lost their lives in addition to Lord Montague; we have also captured five death eaters, important names among them being Crabbe, Goyle and Nathan Greengrass." Again applause broke out despite the somber mood in the wake of twin attacks.

"What I want to know is tha despite asking for help to both aurors and the order, why did anyone not come till the fight was almost over?" James asked angrily.

"That I can tell you, laddie; apparently Voldemort gave Yaxley orders to distract aurors from the two attacks; most of the Order was busy at Longbottom manor so we couldn't come to help you." Moody explained.

"After the search of the areas around both Potter manor and Longbottom manor, we found this trinket lying at the ward boundary at the Potters." Moody said laying the pendant given by Voldemort on the table for most of the order to see.

"What is this, Alastor?" McGonagall asked.

"I do not know, but from what I have gathered from my tests, this can absorb strength from the wards." Moody explained.

There were some shocked gasps at this as muttering broke out at the revelation of a device that can weaken the wards.

"Albus may be able to tell us more about this." Moody said in a questioning tone towards Dumbledore.

"I may, given time." Albus replied. "Mr. Potter?" he asked James who was looking deep in thought.

"This explains a lot, actually;" James began. Dumbledore and Moody both raised their eyebrows in interest and he continued, "The wards at the manor started to weaken dramatically; that was when we knew we were under attack. It took very little time to weaken them to almost negligibility"

"Interesting information, Mr. Potter; I will examine this and will be able to answer a few more questions in a couple of days." Dumbledore said on a question of whether it would be able to harm Hogwarts' wards.

"In the wake of the attack, I ask Mr. Longbottom once again if he consents to hide in the Fidelius charm." Albus asked.

"I think mother made her opinion clear on this matter last time; the answer is unchanged; this attack was repelled successfully and as will be any further ones, we will not allow that monster to dictate our lives." Frank replied with conviction and confidence lacing his tone.

Albus heaved a weary sigh at this; he knew Dame Longbottom could not be swayed once she made her opinion.

"Very well, this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix is now adjourned." Albus said and the order left one by one, some members clapping James and Lupin on the back. Only Moody stayed behind.

"How did you get the information about the Longbottom attack, Albus?" Moody asked once he was certain that they were alone in the chamber.

"A repentant Death eater gave me the information." Dumbledore replied reluctantly.

"And he didn't know about the Potters?"

"No."

"Who is he, then?"

"…"

"Tell me, Albus or I will pull the answer out by a whole gallon of Veritaserum if I have to." Moody threatened fingering the truth potion vial in his robes.

"Severus Snape."

"Snape? Snape? Of course he did not know about the Potters; you know the rivalry between those four, don't you?" Moody asked incredulously.

"This war is bigger than any petty rivalries from their childhood; and Snape has my complete and unwavering trust." Dumbledore roared.

"Only yours." Moody snorted. "I can just imagine the reaction once Potter, or worse Black, hears about this."

"You will not dare tell them anything." Dumbledore thundered.

"I won't but you are making a big mistake. I hope that it doesn't come back to bite us in the bollocks." Moody said and walked away.

**A week later**

**Godric's Hollow**

The Potters, Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore were all standing outside a pretty two story cottage owned by the Potters in the village named after Godric Gryffindor.

"Wonderful place." Dumbledore commented seeing the cottage which indeed looked beautiful. Sirius nodded as if to emphasise the point.

"Sirius is going to be the secret keeper?" Dumbledore asked after a few minutes more of reminiscing about his childhood here in this very village.

"Yes, he is." James said.

"Very well, then; Mr. Black, please stand here; now I will cast the charm and you will get the knowledge of the secret phase, only you will be able to give it away, willingly; no way to force it from you. Write it on this parchment when I am finished." Dumbledore explained pointing Sirius to stand in the space on his right side.

Dumbledore concentrated hard and started chanting in an unintelligible voice waving his wand once, twice, thrice over Sirius' head. The cottage disappeared from the view of the Potters as Sirius shook his head, only he and Dumbledore could still see it as he was the Secret-Keeper and Dumbledore was the caster of the charm.

Sirius wrote the secret phrase on the parchment and passed it to the Potters who shook their heads in amazement as the cottage sprang into view.

"What about Harry?" Lily asked when Harry only looked confused as James pointed 'home' to him.

"Ah right," Sirius said and took Harry in his arms and whispered; "There, little Prongslet; your home is at Godric's Hollow." And Harry giggled when his 'home' sprang into view.

"Well done, Mr. Black. I must go now, I have many pressing matters." Dumbledore said and Apparated away as the remaining four went inside and celebrated a little.

**30 August, 1981**

Around two months had passed since the Potters had went into hiding at Godric's Hollow; in this time, the Order had suffered heavy losses in form of Edgar Bones and his wife Samantha, the McDougals, the McKinnons, the McGonagalls except Minerva. Even Sirius had suffered from no less than seven ambushes in the past two months and the only reason he survived was due to the incompetence or occasional arrogance on part of Death Eaters and his own dumb luck.

It was due to the same reason that he was visiting Godric's Hollow today. Soaring in the sky with his flying motorcycle, one of his most prized possessions, he reached the picturesque village and took a moment to admire the scene before him; then he plowed on with his motorcycle towards the edge of the town where he landed it and finished the rest of the journey on road.

Knocking on the door heavily, he was answered by a female voice demanding, "Who is there?"

A giggle could be heard from the other side and Sirius rolled his eyes before answering, "I am Sirius Black, sex-god, marauder extraordinaire, an Animagus who goes by the name Padfoot."

The door swung open to reveal Lily Potter as the one who opened it, in the background James could be seen catching Harry after throwing him up in the air.

"Hey Pads, what brings you here today?" James asked.

"Pa'foo, Pa'foo." Harry clapped giggling madly.

Sirius ruffled his godson's hair and answered James' question with a heavy sigh; "I was attacked earlier today, got away luckily; but the death eaters mostly know by now that I am the secret keeper. I am not afraid of them, no, but what if they torture me, use Veritaserum on me, I am afraid that I would break and give it away."

Lily and James' faces were showing anxiety and frustration of being cooped up inside the house for far too long. "So what do you suggest?" James asked handing Harry over to Lily.

"We switch; there has to be some spell, we switch to another, they will all think that I am the keeper, no one would anticipate it; it would be the perfect bluff. Lily can do the spell, she is the best at charms out of us all." Sirius told them.

"Okay Padfoot, I will look into my books about this; contact you as soon as I find it." Lily spoke while James looked like he wanted to object.

Sirius nodded and the three spent the rest of the evening catching up on the news of the outside world.

**28 October, 1981**

"Found it!' Lily Potter cried happily, she had found the charm required to switch the secret keepers after constant research of nearly two months. She always loved an academic challenge and it was one of her highest accomplishments as she had created the charm herself from a modification charm. Not to mention, it was the only thing that kept her temper in check after being cooped up for months.

"Wow Lils, you are the best; I will go contact Padfoot." James cried excitedly kissing her on the lips.

He sent a patronus message to Sirius telling him about the news. They were rewarded by the loud roar of Sirius' motorcycle within five minutes of messaging him.

"I swear, that motorcycle of his is going to kill him one of these days." Lily muttered as James answered the door to let Sirius in.

"Lily you found it!" Sirius exclaimed as soon as he stepped inside sweeping her in a tight hug and swinging her around in the air.

"Put me down Sirius." Lily shouted laughing happily as James chuckled and Harry clapped.

"So, who are we going to switch to?" James asked once Sirius, Lily and Harry had calmed down from their hysteric laughter, he still did not like the idea one bit.

"Peter." Sirius said as if it was obvious.

"Peter?" James and Lily echoed.

"Yeah, Peter; Lupin is out on Order business." Sirius explained. 'And not to mention he has been acting rather suspicious.' He thought. It was one of the major points of contention between him and James in the past months; with Lupin's status as an unemployed werewolf, not to mention the rumors of a spy in the Order's ranks; everyone was suspicious of him. Sirius especially, as Peter liked to point out some things to him.

"Okay, we do it tomorrow." James sighed tiredly.

The next day they did the spell with Peter's consent and sealed their fate.

Too busy celebrating and laughing, no one noticed the devious gleam in Peter's eyes. Voldemort had been able to win him over completely to his side in previous months.

**Voldemort's Headquarters**

Peter Pettigrew was deposited on his rear in Voldemort's throne room by the special portkey given to him by Lord Voldemort. He righted himself and dusted his rear off and walked cockily towards the dark lord. A Cruciatus ensured that he gives proper respect to his master. He bowed deeply, kissed Voldemort's robes and bowed once again looking at the dark lord expectantly.

'Foolish Gryffindor; thinks he would get me to ask him.' "Crucio" the red jet struck Peter on the chest and he immediately howled in pain curling on the floor in a fetal position. Voldemort ended the curse after a minute.

"Master, I have the Potters' location." He whimpered.

"And…" Voldemort prodded.

"The Potters live in Godric's Hollow." Peter cried noticing his lord's eyes flashing in anger for drawing it out.

"Well done, Wormtail; well done, indeed."

Peter bowed again and scurried out of the throne room before Voldemort decided to torture him anymore.

That night Godric's Hollow played host to the most feared dark lord in history. He spotted Potters' cottage; admired it from afar and put an anti-transport ward in half mile radius around it; no one would interrupt him in his quest to immortality.

**Halloween, 8 p.m.**

**Godric's Hollow**

Voldemort Apparated inside his anti-transport ward without any sound. He proceeded to walk to the cottage that housed one of the boys that could bring about his downfall swiftly without any delay. Reaching the cottage, he took a moment to sneer momentarily at the foolishness of Potter to marry a Mudblood and further believing in his so called friends to save his life. He will pay today.

James Potter was playing with Harry with Lily watching on when the front door of his cottage was blasted with a loud bang.

"Lily, it's him; take harry and run. I will buy you time." James shouted running to intercept Voldemort and to give Lily time to run to safety.

Lily cried and took Harry in her arms, she rushed off to Harry's nursery and tried to Apparate; she wept again when she couldn't. Sending off a message for help to Albus and Sirius; she proceeded to cast every ward she knew around the nursery even as the sounds of the battle downstairs ceased abruptly.

James met Voldemort in the hallway and fired off a piercing curse followed by a cutting curse without giving Voldemort any time to react. Voldemort shielded against the curses and sent his own volley of unforgivables which was either dodged or intercepted by James. As it was, James was not completely on the defensive the whole time. He matched Voldemort's attacks with his own, even chipping in with unforgivables when he could. But the sheer intensity of the duel was able to tire him out physically and magically and about three minutes into the duel, James was hit by a Crucio enough for Voldemort to end his life with a killing curse.

The dark lord proceeded to the stairs and was opposed by a number of wards, some which were done masterfully. It took him a mere two minutes to undo the wards put up by Lily Potter, an impressive feat considering his immense magical power and knowledge. He blasted open the door to a room that looked like a nursery and was met by a wand wielding Lily Potter. He disarmed her with a mere flick of his wand but Lily Potter still stood glaring at him with nothing but hatred in her emerald green orbs.

Remembering his prize to Snape he said, "Stand aside girl, I want only the child."

"No, not Harry, please; kill me instead. Please." Lily pleaded.

"Stand aside, stand aside silly girl."

"No, please; have mercy. Leave Harry."

"Avada Kedavra."

The green light of the killing curse hit Lily directly over her heart and she crumpled on the floor, dead.

Sirius Black got a message from a patronus shaped as a doe; "Voldemort here. Help!" Lily Potter's frantic voice shouted.

"Peter, you mother-fucking traitor bastard; I will kill you." Sirius shouted as he shrunk his motorcycle and Apparated to Godric's Hollow. He was met by an anti-transport ward so he enlarged his bike again and kicked it to life thundering towards his friend's cottage at top speed.

He saw the dead body of his brother in all but blood on the floor against the wall, his hazel eyes opened in death. He closed them hastily and made his way upstairs quickly as he heard a thump of another body hitting the ground.

A few more tears fell from his stormy grey eyes as he thought; 'Lily, James; forgive me, it's all my fault.' Climbing up quickly he drew his wand and saw a bald head and shouted "AVADA KEDAVRA"

Voldemort was gazing at the lifeless body of Lily Potter when he heard a shout of "AVADA KEDAVRA" from the stairs; turning around he was presented with the sight of his favored curse racing towards him.

"Ah, so the blood traitor mutt shows his face after all." He chirped as he intercepted the curse with a conjured block of marble.

"Stand away from my Godson you mother-fucker." Sirius shouted as he and Voldemort began to duel in earnest.

After about a minute of throwing and shielding curses of the darkest variety; Voldemort muttered "Dumbledore" which was heard by Sirius due to his enhanced hearing a, gift of his canine Animagus form.

"You live another day, blood traitor; I will deal with you next time." Voldemort said and disapparated. Sirius tried to follow him but Voldemort was almost a master in the art and eluded him easily. Blinded by rage and grief, Sirius vowed revenge on Peter Pettigrew and tried to track him down trusting Dumbledore to keep Harry safe.

**Longbottom Manor**

Voldemort Apparated in front of Longbottom Manor seething in rage from his failure in killing Harry Potter. He waved his wand once and the air around the manor lit up in many lights, taking apart the wards forcefully with three spells fueled by his rage, he stormed into the manor and killed a wand wielding Frank Longbottom without any delay.

Alice Longbottom put up a good fight but was met by the sake end as her husband. Voldemort then tried to find the baby and reached out with his senses, he found his target two stories up and without any delay stormed up. Performing the spell to create his seventh and last Horcrux on Slytherin's sword after killing the prophecy child, he looked at the Longbottom heir with hatred in his eyes and said "Die, Longbottom. Avada Kedavra."

The green light erupted from his wand and reached the forehead of the sleeping child where it struck and was reflected upon the shocked dark lord. His body and the sword of his ancestor disintegrated as a result of the magical backlash as the manor suffered huge structural damage; the soul of the dark lord, already unstable after the ritual to create a Horcrux, tore apart and latched on to the only living being inside the manor, young Neville Longbottom, who was hailed as the boy-who-lived and identified by a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

* * *

The Longbottom line was nearly ended except from Augusta who would become the guardian of the Boy-who-Lived and live under the Fidelius as a result of the attack. Sirius Black was captured and taken to Azkaban by DMLE after he was accused of betraying the Potters and killing Peter Pettigrew along with thirteen muggles by a single curse. Albus Dumbledore's testimony of Sirius being the secret keeper of the Potters playing a very large role in sending the dog Animagus to Azkaban without even a trial.

Barty Crouch Sr. lost his prestige and power in the ministry when his son Barty Crouch Jr. was found at the scene of torture and murder of Fabian and Gideon Prewett along with death eaters Rodolphus, Rabastan and Bellatrix Lestrange. All four were sentenced for life in Azkaban for publicly siding with Voldemort and a number of other crimes.

Minerva McGonagall would take care of young Harry Potter, the son of two of her most favorite students of all time, for a week before Albus Dumbledore would convince her to let Harry live with the Dursleys as his only living relatives; leaving the child sleeping on the doorstep with a letter explaining the events of the previous week as well as a stipend of a thousand pounds per month.

No one would know the location of young Harry Potter who was one of the candidates of being the vanquisher of dark Lord Voldemort. The wizarding world would soon forget about their almost saviour as they would go on to celebrate the end of reign of terror of Lord Voldemort after nearly eleven years by Neville Longbottom, the boy-who-lived.

* * *

A/N: So, how was it? I thinks I bollocksed up the last part of the chapter which came out a bit choppy and rushed but damn, that was the longest chapter I have ever written with 9k+ words.

Read and review or Voldie's spirit will come to haunt you in your dreams and if you daydream enough, it may well become a reality!


	3. Life Goes On, Or Does It?

THE CHOSEN ONE

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A/N: Here is the third chapter of 'The Chosen One'. I have got some reviews criticizing the decision of sending Harry to the Dursleys. Well, as Dumbledore said in canon, 'they are his only living family.' So sacrifice of Lily or not, you just cannot take someone and give him away to anyone if they have their blood family still alive.

Not to mention, Neville is the BWL, so Albus just forgot about poor Harry who does not have anything going for him. Albus just got rid of the boy as fast as he could while still being legal. Though wizarding world does not look upon muggles in a much favorable light, Albus was able to place Harry with the Dursleys as 'he knows what he is doing.' And he was apparently betrayed by one of his most trusted followers, so he places Harry with the muggles.

That's my thinking anyway; and it's the way I planned this story to be; also, Durzkaban will not feature much and will be beneficial to Harry, character-wise more than harming.

On with the story then…

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the other characters; they are the property of J. K. Rowling. I am merely playing with them. No money is being made by this fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 1

The Life Goes On, or Does It?

* * *

**2 November, 1981**

_**Daily Prophet Special Edition**_

_**Sirius Black Arrested**_

_By: Stephen Acker_

_Yesterday night, the aurors and Hit wizards apprehended Sirius Orion Black, best friend of the Potters, and now their betrayer from London where he killed thirteen muggles and a wizard, Peter Pettigrew with a single curse following the death of the Potters and Longbottoms at the hands of You-Know-Who. Black, who was the best friend of late James Potter and an auror is said to be the betrayer of Potters to You-Know-Who. Apparently, the Potters were hiding using Fidelius Charm in Godric's Hollow with Black as their Secret keeper._

_Following the defeat of You-Know-Who at the hands of the Boy-Who-Lived, Neville Longbottom; Black fled. According to the muggle witnesses, Peter Pettigrew hunted Black down and after cornering him in Grimmauld street, London; yelled, 'Lily and James, Sirius; how could you?' Already unhinged, Black became enraged and cast an unknown curse killing Peter Pettigrew and thirteen muggles in the explosion, the explosion was so strong that there was a huge crater on the street and the only bit of Peter Pettigrew found was his finger._

_In a strange move, Black, believed to be the right hand man of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, just laughed insanely till the DMLE arrived on the scene adding to the rumours of his insanity._

_According to the head of DMLE, Barty Crouch Sr. Black showed many signs of being a follower of dark side but was saved by the trust of his long-time friend, James Potter. 'He used a large variety of dark curses in duels.' Mr. Crouch told the reporters._

_Black will be taken to Azkaban where he would be joined by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, arrested for torture and murder of Prewett brothers in the maximum security level. Our thoughts are with the deceased muggles and Peter, survived by his mother._

_In related news, Minister Bagnold announced posthumous Order of Merlin, First Class for James and Lily Potter, Frank and Alice Longbottom, and Peter Pettigrew. 'They were the true heroes of the Wizarding World.' She told the press in the ceremony._

_Also read,_

_Biography of Sirius Black, page 8_

_Biography of Peter Pettigrew, page 7_

_Biographies of James and Lily Potter, page 6_

_Bellatrix Lestrange and Sirius Black, a history, page 5_

_Biographies of Frank and Alice Longbottom, page 9_

_Notable winners of Order of Merlin, First Class, page 10_

_The Rise and Fall of Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, pages 11, 12 and 13._

**Bones Manor**

The morning's special edition of the Daily Prophet forced one Amelia Bones to relive the memories of the last evening. As the team leader of the aurors, she was among the first ones on scene and thus got a bit of time alone with Sirius prior to his arrest.

**Flashback**

_Amelia Apparated on the scene to see a huge crater in the middle of Grimmauld Street, London and an insanely laughing Sirius Black on the edge of it; muggles were peeking from behind the corners and cars they had apparently used to seek cover with blood and flesh everywhere._

_Robert, Jordan, Briggs; go check the muggles; I will apprehend Black." Amelia ordered hoping to get some time alone with Sirius to get some answers._

"_But ma'am…" Briggs began only to be interrupted by Bones._

"_Do as I say, Briggs; I am the leader here." Amelia boomed and the aurors cowered._

_As they walked away, Amelia bound Sirius in conjured manacles. She was a little disheartened to see no signs of his wand anywhere and Sirius' insane laughter._

"_Sirius, Sirius." She whispered shaking him a little._

"_Amy? Oh Amy, I am so sorry, Lily, James; I am so sorry. Hahahahaha… Poor little Pettigrew, hahahahahaha... Sorry Prongs, Lily-pad. Hahahahahahaha…" it was all Sirius said as Amelia tried in vain to make him coherent once again._

**Flashback ends**

By the end of her reminiscence, Amelia was once again hit by a veritable tidal wave of emotions, sadness, confusion, anger, all tried to consume her but as she saw the face of her niece, Susan, she calmed down a little. Preparing a cup of tea, she again thought about the last evening, this time trying to view the whole incident objectively. The lack of both Sirius' and Peter's wands was a little disconcerting. Something did not quite add up; she had not known Sirius much but from what she knew of him, he did not strike as the one to betray his friends, and the Potters were practically his family. Sirius Black was many things but a traitor he was not. Though, there was something suspicious about Pettigrew definitely.

She knew that James, Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew did something on full moon nights, but how did the three control a full grown werewolf, she did not know, neither did any of them tell her anything; she remembered Lupin telling her about his lycanthropy after she had figured it out and confronted him, though he was not much forthcoming, neither was Sirius, for that matter, as she thought more about the incident and the man himself, suspicions started to arise in her mind. 'How come that there was only a finger to show for Pettigrew, while the thirteen muggles had cloth pieces, bone pieces, flesh bits, etc. all over the place?' she thought.

The lack of a trial for Sirius struck her as an oddity too. Then she remembered, Barty Crouch junior had been tried successfully for being a death eater and taking part in the torture and murder of Fabian and Gideon Prewett. 'I would not put it past Barty to dump Sirius in Azkaban without a trial especially as his reputation took such a hit only a day before. Capturing Voldemort's right hand man would have almost repaired the damage. Why take the risk of another trial when your own son shamed you so badly.'

She realized that in order to have sufficient evidence for Sirius' innocence, she would have to talk to his friends and family, namely Lupin; and Andromeda Tonks. Quickly summoning a piece of parchment she wrote two letters and sent them off with her owl, Hector.

**Unknown Location**

Remus Lupin cursed angrily as he packed his meager belongings in his apartment drinking firewhiskey from a bottle. He wanted to storm up to Azkaban, enter the traitor's cell, transform into his werewolf form and rip him apart limb to limb; sometimes he just wanted to shake him badly and ask him 'Why? Why did the bastard do it? Were they not good enough for him? Had they not done enough for him? Was it all an act?'

As he thought about Pad… no the traitor, his thoughts wandered to Harry, James and Lily's little boy, his little cub, that bastard's Godson. 'Fucking traitor made his own Godson an orphan.' 'Where would little Harry live now?' he thought. He could not take custody of his little cub due to his lycanthropy. He did not even know where Harry would live now, 'Orphanage?' he shuddered at the thought of Lily's son in an orphanage; he knew that those were not the safest place for a child and drank more firewhiskey, emptying the bottle.

'If only I had not been a werewolf, if I had not been poor, if that bastard had not betrayed us all.' Tears ran down his cheeks as his thoughts wandered. 'I am sorry that would not be there for you, Harry. I cannot even contact you. What would I say; "hey Harry, I am Remus Lupin, your father's mate from school; yes I was friend with the traitor as well, that, that I, I loved… loved that, that… Oh why did I not take you in? Well, you see, I become a monster on full moon nights and I am unemployed, poor, and dangerous. Yeah, that would go smashingly well, maybe Harry would run away at monster part, maybe even before that."' He thought as he opened another bottle of firewhisky and took a long swig from it.

'Firewhiskey, we started this ritual in our fifth year, happy days. It was Sirius that started it first.' As his thoughts again wandered, filled with sudden rage and hurt he threw the bottle angrily on the wall, his eyes flashing amber.

'Fucking memories, fucking ministry, fucking bigots; I would go away, far away, Sorry Harry.' He thought as he passed out drunk.

**Tonks' Residence**

Andromeda Tonks nee Black broke into tears one again as she read the morning's Daily Prophet. She had been doing that a lot for the past few days. She just could not believe that her cousin could do such a thing. Add that to her sister's imprisonment, she was an emotional wreck these days.

Hearing footsteps coming from upstairs, she tried to compose herself and wiped her tears away. Her face brightened a little when she saw her daughter Nymphadora, trying to rub off sleep from her eyes. Nymphadora was eight years old and it was her birthday the next day and a metamorphmagus, an extremely rare magical ability.

"What's wrong, mum?" Nymphadora asked as she saw redness in her mother's eyes. She being a metamorphmagus-in-training, her mother had taught her to look at people's faces carefully to read them successfully in order to fully utilize her talent.

"N-nothing." Andromeda said averting her eyes subtly. She still had not her daughter about the events that transpired on Halloween; even when Nymphadora questioned her about her "Uncle Sirius'" absence, she lied that he was busy in his auror work. As it was, she herself had not quite come to terms with the situation and desperately believed that the last few days never happened.

It was at this time that her husband, Ted, too came downstairs and greeted them 'Good morning' sleepily before making a coffee for himself.

"Sooo, mum, dad; are you getting me that dress for my birthday." Nymphadora asked them.

"We'll see darling." Ted replied ruffling her hair.

"But that means no, Becky told me." Nymphadora said, sadly.

"No, that means, we will see." Ted said.

"I know, I am going to ask Uncle Sirius, he never refuses me anything." Nymphadora cried triumphantly.

It was at this point Andromeda lost all her composure and broke into huge sobs as the reality came crashing down on her. Ted looked helplessly at his wife, in all his time knowing her, he had not seen her break down like that, she was always calm and composed.

Nymphadora too was shocked to see her mother cry like that. (Mum never cried.) "Mum…" she said unsure.

"Oh honey, uncle Sirius is not coming back." Andromeda cried grabbing her daughter in a hug and told her everything.

"No he can't do that; uncle Sirius catches the bad guys; he told me. Ne never lies to me." Nymphadora cried as she too wept.

"I know sweety; but everything is against him." Andromeda cried.

"He can't do that, he can't this is a big mistake." Nymphadora kept repeating this again and again weeping all the time.

Ted looked on helpless at the women in his life breaking down for their imprisoned family member. He did not know what to say to help calm that down so he walked over to them and just gathered them in his arms. He did not know Sirius Black that well but from what he could tell; Sirius Black was not one to betray his friends. He had helped Andromeda when his entire family had turned against her due to her marriage.

**Black Vacation Home**

**Marseilles, France**

"How could this happen?" Arcturus Black thundered as he read the morning prophet.

"It was a mistake, brother, to allow Walburga to be the acting head." Pollux Black retorted calmly.

"We shall bemoan the past mistakes later; look at the more important problems first, the house of Black is without an heir." Cassiopeia Black said trying to calm the others down.

"What do you suggest then, Cassie?" Melania Black nee Macmillan asked.

"Don't call me that, Melania; I suggest we summon Walburga here and encourage her to reinstate Sirius into the family." Cassiopeia replied.

"At the present time, Narcissa's Draco is the heir; what is bad about that?" Irma Black nee Crabbe asked.

If it had not been improper for ladies of pureblood houses to roll their eyes, Cassiopeia and Melania would have done just that.

"Well you see Irma dear, he is a Malfoy." Melania began.

"And Malfoy's were the ones to get us into this mess with this Lord Voldemort and his 'purity movement'. Why, if it had not been for Walburga and Abraxas' vehement support to Voldemort, house of black would never have allied itself with that whelp so publicly." Cassiopeia finished angrily.

Irma looked like she wanted to defend Abraxas but cowered under the combined glares of the other Blacks.

"What about Abraxas; we have not heard from him in a long time." Pollux asked.

"Pollux dear, perhaps you should spend some time out of your precious library. Abraxas is dead, killed by dear Sirius in the failed assault on Potter Manor a few months ago." Cassiopeia informed him.

"Dear Bellatrix was there too; what would Dorea think, her own relatives fighting against her child?" Melania said sniffing a bit.

"Okay, enough chit-chat; we need to devise a plan to maneuver Walburga into reinstating Sirius." Cassiopeia spoke and directed the Black elders towards the study.

"What would we do once that has been done; dear Sirius is in Azkaban." Irma asked.

"We make his heir the Black heir and train him to be a Black." Arcturus spoke calmly.

After nearly an hour of planning, plotting; arguments and counter-arguments, the elder Blacks had a plan formed and they sent Cassiopeia to the ancestral Black manor, 12, Grimmauld lace, London to retrieve Walburga.

**12, Grimmauld Place**

**London**

Cassiopeia Black Apparated in the back garden of the Black Manor and strode in regally. Spotting the house elf, Kreacher she came to a halt and ordered it to bring Walburga to the study, resuming her trail, she entered the huge study still in the same state she had left it after the death of her nephew Orion in 1977. Taking a seat on a couch near the fireplace, she waited for her niece to arrive.

"Aunt Cassiopeia, I was just about to depart for vacation house." Walburga said striding into the room with authority and taking a seat opposite her aunt.

"Ah Walburga, you seem to be in excellent spirits." Cassiopeia remarked trying to take a look at the mood of her niece.

"And I am, dear Sirius proved that he was a true Black after all, killing all those muggle filth and blood-traitors for the noble cause." Walburga replied proudly.

'Isn't that the same son who was a disgrace to the name Black? Looks like Walburga would not be too hard to persuade after all.' Cassiopeia thought disdainfully but kept her face blank employing Occlumency. "That he did, didn't he?" she said however.

"So Aunt Cassiopeia; what brings you here?" Walburga asked after ordering Kreacher to bring some firewhiskey to celebrate her son's apparent betrayal of the 'light'.

Taking a sip of the firewhiskey, Cassiopeia replied carefully keeping her face blank; "We wanted to discuss Sirius' reinstatement into the family, after all he has proven that he is a true Black to the core."

Walburga looked at her aunt carefully as if trying to read her true motives, she knew that a Black never did things without some covert ulterior motive. Finding none of the signs of deceit, yet, she replied; "Of course, he has proven his status as a true Black. I was hoping to discuss the matter with Arcturus before taking any actions, though."

'Like his opinion mattered in joining forces with Voldemort or marrying off Narcissa to Abraxas' brat.' Cassiopeia thought but again keeping her face carefully blank, replied; "Indeed. Come then, niece; let's depart, shall we?"

"Of course." Walburga replied and the Blacks departed from the manor, Apparating to the vacation house from the apparition point in the back garden.

**Black Vacation House**

**One hour later**

The elder Blacks cracked open a bottle of their finest wine to celebrate the little victory over Walburga; it had taken very little prodding to persuade Walburga to reinstate Sirius into the family and name him the Black heir again.

After the celebratory toast, the mood again became sober as the Blacks tried to decide what to do now.

"Sadly, House Black lost many of its allies in the ministry after declaring open support to Voldemort. The neutral faction which was our ally normally has long since been lost to us, the light faction is firmly under Dumbledore's thumb and the dark is in minority." Arcturus said.

"I have contacted all my contacts in the ministry and Wizengamot; I have not been able to find out any of the details of Sirius' trials." Pollux said coming back from the floo connection in the study.

"Means the papers were either sealed by the chief warlock or there was no trial." Cassiopeia stated.

"There has to be a trial, even dear Bella got one." Melania said.

"No amount of bribes would work in our favour at the moment, Bella's proclamation of openly supporting Voldemort has scared the Wizengamot and the Ministry workers off the Black family." Pollux said, he continued, "I have been able to get Sirius' papers from his auror work, though; had to break into Crouch's office to get them."

"That's what took you so long." Arcturus said.

"Well, what does it say then? Who is the Next of Kin?" Melania asked impatiently.

"Sirius Orion Black; born 1st December, 1959; father, Orion Black; mother, Walburga Black. Next of kin? Ah, there it is. Next of kin, James Charlus Potter, Harry James Potter, Lily Potter, Peter Pettigrew." Pollux replied.

"Well, three of the four named are dead; that leaves Harry James Potter. Where was he placed, again?" Cassiopeia stated.

"Nobody knows, he was placed by Dumbledore after the Potters' death." Arcturus replied frowning.

"Another dead-end, no way Dumbledore is going to hand him over to Black family renowned for its support to the 'dark'." Melania said, also frowning.

"We can always lodge an official request." Irma remarked.

"We could, but it would reach Walburga's ears; she would not allow a Potter; and a half-blood at that, to be the Black heir. Not after Dorea and Charlus took Sirius in." Cassiopeia replied.

"We cannot do anything now; we will have to wait till things cool down a little and young Harry's location could be found out." Arcturus said.

"Do you think that he really was Voldemort's right hand man, that he really betrayed the Potters?" Irma asked.

"No, it was not in his nature; Sirius Black may have been a rebel but he will never betray his friends. We all know he was the only one to still have contact with Andromeda after she was disowned." Pollux said.

**November 3, 1981**

**The Ministry of Magic, **

**London**

The head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Barty Crouch Sr. walked into his office. The past few days had been very hectic for him; first his son was found to be a death eater; that really tarnished his reputation and nearly doomed his chances of ever becoming the Minister of magic. Then, a golden opportunity presented itself to him in the guise of the capture of Voldemort's right hand man, Sirius Black, on a muggle street after the murder of wizard Peter Pettigrew and thirteen muggles. Barty wasted no time and shipped Black off to the maximum security level in Azkaban.

No trial was required as the last one had really hurt the people's morale; coincidentally it also included Black's insane cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. If there had been another raving lunatic publicly announcing their allegiance to Voldemort, people would definitely have revolted against the older families. That Albus Dumbledore himself testified that Black had been the secret keeper of Potters did not hurt either.

Entering his office, his attention was drawn to the heavily warded cabinet to the side of his table; the cabinet's door was blown off its hinges by the looks of it and all the papers inside were burnt. That contained some really important information against the potential candidates for the post of Minister of Magic. Cursing loudly, he stormed out of his office and entered the auror cubicles.

"Bones, report." He boomed.

A tall stately witch with her auror robes on walked to him and saluted "Director Crouch."

"Bones, who was on duty here last night?" he questioned looking at her intently.

"Roberts, sir." She answered.

"Then how on earth was my office broken into, not to mention a heavily warded cabinet destroyed?" he thundered, staring Bones down.

Amelia did not back down under her superior's gaze and calmly answered, "There was an incident at the atrium and around the courtrooms yesterday night. Maybe the perpetrators entered then."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Investigate it." Crouch sneered at the woman.

"Certainly, sir." Bones said and followed Crouch to his office.

After nearly five minutes of casting revealing charms and residue picking spells with Crouch hovering on her shoulder, Amelia still came up with nothing. "The magical residues have evaporated by now; so, the only thing I can say is that the person entered through the door after taking down the wards around it, used the killing curse to open the cabinet, did their job and left using the incidents in the atrium and courtrooms as diversions." She told Crouch who just dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

Shaking her head at the narrow mindedness of her superiors in the ministry, Amelia walked back to her own cubicle thinking about the letters she had written to Remus Lupin and Andromeda Tonks. No one had seen hide or hair of Lupin since before the Halloween while Andromeda Tonks rarely interacted with magical world, if at all.

Still her hopes were high and it was with this thought she received her owl which carried two envelopes, one addressed to her while the other one the one she had sent to Lupin. Looks like he has gone underground. Shrugging she opened the letter from Andromeda and started to read it.

_Dear Madame Bones, _

_I would say that I was quite surprised to receive your owl yesterday regarding a meeting to discuss Sirius and the events of First November. I would like to be able to say that I do not believe all what is being said about my cousin. He just did not have it in himself to betray his friends, especially James and Lily, and Harry; they were like his own family to him, more than the Blacks ever were._

_It feels good to know that there is someone else apart from me that still believes in Sirius. I would like to meet you for lunch at 'The Leaky Cauldron' on Sunday if it's acceptable to you._

_Yours_

_Andromeda Tonks_

Smiling that at last something went her way in the day, she penned a reply to Andromeda agreeing to meet her for lunch on Sunday and sent Hector off; then she looked at her desk and groaned at the veritable mountain of paperwork waiting her.

* * *

By the arrival of lunchtime she had made a big dent in the paperwork, largely thanks to a quiet morning for the first time in about a month. Deciding that this much paperwork is enough for the day; she got started on her secondary task, which is, finding out details about Sirius' trial, or lack thereof; she walked to the ministry archives.

"Hi Sarah." She greeted the clerk at the desk.

"Hello, auror Bones; how may I help you?" the middle aged woman asked warmly after inspecting her auror badge.

"I wanted to see the details of Sirius Black's case." Amelia told her.

"I am sorry, auror Bones; but the case has been sealed by the Chief Warlock. You would have to get permission from him and Minister Bagnold in order to obtain a copy of the case." The clerk replied after looking through the archive entry register.

Realizing that there was no way that the minister was going to sign the permission if it somehow showed the ministry in a bad light, which it would, otherwise they would not have sealed it, at all; she trudged back to her cubicle dejectedly. Furiously thinking of a way to get her hands on the files, she did not see her way and crashed straight into a man coming from the opposite.

"See where you are going, woman." A cold voice belonging to the man she had crashed into, brought her back to the present.

Snapping her gaze to the man who was being unnecessarily rude for just a little mistake, she was shocked to find Lucius walking step to step with none other than Minister Bagnold. "Oh sorry, Minister, Mr. Malfoy." She apologized belatedly realizing that she was standing in the hallway like an idiot with her jaw hanging open.

"No worries auror, do be careful next time." The Minister said in a falsely sweet voice and walked away with Lucius.

'What on earth is a death eater like Malfoy doing with the minister?' she thought. 'The elections; they are going to be held next year.' She realized. 'Malfoy is acting quick, chumming up with the minister.' She thought realizing that there would not be any changes due to Albus Dumbledore's appeal for political stability published in the previous day's Prophet.

'This deteriorates the chances of me proving Sirius' innocence even further.' She thought glumly and frowned.

**Evening, Black Vacation Home**

"So what did you find out, Pollux?" Arcturus asked after Pollux had spent most of the day at the British ministry of magic trying to find out details about Sirius' trial.

"The files were sealed by the orders of the Chief Warlock and the Minister. Had to bribe the clerk to get the files, broke the curses myself." Pollux grumbled.

"And?" Cassiopeia prompted.

"There was no trial." Pollux replied.

"What? I thought you said there was no trial." Melania asked.

"Yes, there was no trial. According to the files, the evidence and witness accounts pointed to Sirius' guilt without any doubt and there was no need of a trial in order to keep the courtroom empty for more dubious trials." Pollux replied.

"And Dumbledore went along with it? I mean, the man saw fit to give Bellatrix the luxury of a trial while she was obviously guilty." Cassiopeia asked.

"Yes, in fact, it was his testimony as the caster of Fidelius about Sirius being the secret keeper for the Potters that sealed the deal for Barty Crouch." Pollux replied and sank into a chair tiredly.

"Well then, all we have to do is to get him a trial and he would be proved innocent." Irma said.

"Not so easy, in fact, it would be easier to kill Dumbledore off than getting Sirius a trial. The Blacks do not have the same pull over the ministry that we enjoyed even a decade prior. Add to this the fact that most of the public views Sirius as Voldemort's right hand man, there is no way we can even bribe, threaten or extort our way to get him a trial." Arcturus replied sighing tiredly.

"But surely we can do something." Melania cried.

"Just wait for the elections and hope that Dumbledore's appeal for stability does not have any effect and a sympathetic person leads the government." Cassiopeia said sipping a cup of tea.

"There is a good news though." Pollux remarked suddenly remembering something.

"Oh, do tell." Melania and Irma prompted.

"Apparently, Amelia Bones, the regent of Most Ancient house of Bones, is snooping around the ministry trying to get the same details; she seems to be sharing our opinion of Sirius' innocence." Pollux told.

"Well ten, let's arrange a meeting with her." Irma said happily.

"Not now, she would not trust us, being Blacks; she would just assume that we are happy that Sirius is Voldemort's man and we are deceiving her. No, let her find things out on her own." Cassiopeia said.

"But we can always direct her in the right direction if she gets confused." Melania agreed.

"Of course." Arcturus said.

**4, Privet Drive**

**Surrey**

Petunia Dursley looked at the two boys currently playing in the ground and frowned. One of them was her own precious son, Dudley Dursley, he was a fat boy who was currently weeping bitterly after her nephew, Harry Potter, had finally exacted revenge after being pinched and prodded without making a sound. She frowned as her thoughts drifted to the boy's mother, her sister, Lily. 'Perfect Lily, oh a witch in the family, they would say.' she thought bitterly.

'Well your precious witch, your perfect Lily is now dead; dead with her damn husband; and I am here stuck with her son. Perfect Lily's perfect little brat. I could not stamp that nonsense out of Lily but I will stamp it out of her freak brat. Oh yes, stamp it out, I will.' She thought as a maniacal gleam appeared in her beady eyes. She got up, smiling sweetly at her son, she walked over to her nephew, and slapped the little boy hard.

The boy started to cry loudly at the strike and she picked the freak up and dumped him with his crib in the storage cupboard under the stairs. 'Maybe Vernon will help me.' She thought gleefully as she prepared a meal for her precious Dudleykins.

It took a very little time for Petunia to convince Vernon to try and stamp the dangerous nonsense out of Lily's brat. He was more than receptive of the idea, especially after he got a little drunk. He was very angry over wizards dumping the devil spawn on him without even asking if they wanted it, conveniently ignoring the thousand pound monthly stipend being paid to them for taking care of the child.

Being a wealthy and somewhat of a smooth talker, Vernon was quite an untouchable figure politically, at least in the suburb of Little Whinging, Surrey. He had good relations with the commissioner of police, the magistrate and other influential figures around Surrey largely due to his father who frequented such circles.

Thus began Harry's life at the Dursleys, something that will haunt him for quite a long time.

* * *

A/N: So, how was it?

About Albus' 'out of sight, out of mind attitude with Harry'. Well, I think that Harry just does not matters to him anymore. For him, Neville is the one mentioned in the prophecy so he washes his hands off Harry as soon as he could. Reason, even in canon, he set some store by the prophecy, at least that's what I think, after all he never tried to do anything about Tom's horcruxes; he had to have known about them for many years. So, her in this story, Harry does not feature in his plans, he will monitor him, but not so closely as Neville.

Just like Sirius was an expendable component in canon, while he had plans for all the other variables (Snape, Lupin, etc.); Sirius did not feature as an ally in the equation at all, so he did his best to limit his influence over harry and generally, just isolated him without any aid.

Think about that, tell me if you agree. How hard it would have been for the Leader of Magical Britain (Chief Warlock, supreme mugwump, defeater of Grindelwald, Leader of the Light, etc., etc.) to get Sirius a trial? Hmm?

Read and **Review, ** if you do not want to be hunted down by dementors currently keeping company to Sirius and Bellatrix in Azkaban.

PS: Sorry if the Black elders seem to be a bit OOC, I just did not know how to go with a bunch of old farts whose whole pride and arrogance is now wounded.

PPS: Some characters used in the last chapter:

**Robert Lestrange: **Father of Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange.

**Evan Rosier Sr.: **Father of Evan Jr. and Eric Rosier; also a school friend of Tom Riddle.

**Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, Greengrass, etc.:** Fathers to Harry's classmates in canon, around Lucius' time in Hogwarts.


	4. Once A Black, Always A Black

THE CHOSEN ONE

* * *

A/N: Here is the second chapter of this Harry Potter story. Enjoy!

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and other characters; they are the property of J. K. Rowling. I am merely playing with them; no money is being made by the means of this fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 2

Once a Black, Always a Black

* * *

**Black Vacation Home**

The floo flared to life in the study and showed a regal face of Walburga Black. "Aunt Cassiopeia." She called seeing the older woman fully immersed in a book.

"Ah Walburga, I was not expecting you." Cassiopeia said faking a smile.

"It's perfectly fine, aunt Cassiopeia; I just called to inform that reinstatement of dear Sirius is now complete." Walburga simpered.

"Ah that's excellent news you have brought, Walburga. Wouldn't you join us for a celebration?" Cassiopeia said, truly happy this time.

"I am sorry, I can't, Aunt Cassiopeia; dear Narcissa has invited me over for a celebration at her manor for Draco's heirdom." Walburga said, looking truly sad.

"Draco's heirdom? Whatever do you mean, Walburga?" Cassiopeia asked, truly shocked for the first time in many years.

"Draco's heirdom, Aunt Cassiopeia; with dear Sirius being in Azkaban, he is not able to claim lordship while neither he has any male heirs; so the title goes to Draco, the next closest blood related male." Walburga explained. Cassiopeia nodded, of course she knew that already, she practically knew the laws like the back of her hand but she was surprised to see that Walburga would assume Draco will be the heir without even trying to confirm it. Hiding a smirk at her niece's slip; she returned her attention to Walburga.

"Are you quite alright, Aunt Cassiopeia?" Walburga asked, frowning a little.

"Oh, I am perfectly alright, dear. You go to Narcissa, wouldn't want to be late now, would you?" Cassiopeia said closing the floo off with a flourish of her wand after Walburga had ended the call.

'Well niece, this arrogance without backing yourself up would lead to your downfall; I would just have to ensure that you are none the wiser when it comes.' Cassiopeia thought to herself, smirking and walked off to the apparition point in the home to Apparate over to Diagon Alley to put her plans in motion after taking a scroll with her.

* * *

Appearing in the apparition point in Diagon Alley, London with a barely noticeable pop, Cassiopeia Black strode off in the direction of Gringotts Wizarding Bank with her head held high, sneering at the other people who had started muttering angrily and were at the point of drawing their wands on her. 'As if they could attack a Black and get away with it, alive.' She scoffed internally; externally, her face did not even register the cowards, the sneer planted on it firmly.

Ignoring the guards and the inscription at the front doors, she made her way to an empty teller and looked at him expectantly. The teller, however, did not seem to pay her any attention and continued to scribble off furiously in his ledger.

"You know, goblin; it is the same arrogance that resulted in your race's defeat and you being holed up inside the earth while we wizards rule the surface." She said, her voice cold, a sneer on her face.

The barely discernable flinch in the Goblin's demeanour made her relish her victory all the more. "I need to see the Black Family Account Manager." She snapped at the filthy creature.

"And who might you be to demand a meeting with Tripshank?" the teller asked, eyeing her with narrow slits.

"I am Cassiopeia Black, of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. It would do you well, goblin, to cease your little games an serve me immediately."

She smirked as the goblin lost its sneer and paled, if the green being could do so. The goblin hopped off his stool and said in his most contrite voice, "Please follow me, Miss Black. I apologise for your inconvenience but Gringotts puts the security of its clients' money above the rest."

The other witches and wizards in the lobby had the same reaction as those in the Alley when they heard the word Black being spoken by one of the members of the dishonoured house. Cassiopeia too, reacted the same; brushing off the whispers and glares with a haughty look and sneer on her face without paying any attention to the teller still rattling off about improved security and relations between the Blacks and Goblin nation.

Finally, they reached the office of the Black family Account manager, Tripshank. Without waiting for the teller to announce her presence or even knock on the door, Cassiopeia entered the room swiftly and walked towards the lone goblin sitting on the chair. Striding towards the table as if she owned the place, she gracefully sat on one of the guest chairs present there.

"Miss Black, what can I do for you today?" Tripshank asked.

"First of all, you would do well to confirm as to whom the title of the Black heir falls to." Cassiopeia said looking down at the goblin.

Tripshank raised an eyebrow but still walked over to a hidden cabinet to his right and took out a very old looking ledger from it; thumbing through the pages carefully, he answered; "Ah, here it is, the new heir Black is Sirius Orion Black. Walburga, his mother, is the acting head as he is in Azkaban."

"Does it state if he has specified an heir?" Cassiopeia asked.

Consulting the ledger once more, Tripshank answered; "Mr. Black has named one Harry James Potter as his heir."

"I would recommend, goblin, that you keep this information discreet, from everyone; even me niece Walburga." Cassiopeia said, more like hissed.

"Ah, but Miss Black, you are forgetting; she as the head of the family, can ask anything and we are obliged to give her the information she asks for." The goblin replied smoothly.

"Ah, but I have an incentive for you." Cassiopeia said and pulled out a money pouch from her robes. She shook it a little to make the sound of coins licking with each other; "Surely you can find some information my niece would like to have her attention claimed elsewhere." She added noticing the quickly growing greed in the goblin's eyes.

"Of course, Miss Black; you have my word." Tripshank pocketed the pouch eagerly, too eagerly but Cassiopeia was hiding a smirk, she still had her ace up her sleeve.

"Now that that's settled, I would like to meet the Potter Family Account Manager." She said.

Raising an eyebrow, the goblin said "Of course, Miss Black." He got off his chair and led Cassiopeia through various twists and turns in the bowels of Gringotts finally reaching an almost identical door as they had left behind themselves. Knocking on the door, they waited for a response before going in the office which was decorated similarly to that of Tripshank.

The two visitors took a seat in front of the older looking goblin who similarly to all others seen till now, was ignoring them and continued to work on his ledger.

Playing the diplomat, Tripshank introduced the two, "Miss Black, Ripblade, Potter Family Account Manager; Ripblade, Miss Cassiopeia Black."

"Actually, you may call me Regent Potter." Cassiopeia said nonchalantly and smirked as the two goblins' faces took the expression of utmost shock with their mouths agape and eyes wide.

"The Minister was kind enough to make me the guardian of Harry Potter." She said after nearly a minute of stunned silence from her two companions.

"Preposterous." Ripblade muttered but the other two had no problem in hearing him.

"See for yourself, then." She said and taking out a scroll from her robes, she handed it over to Ripblade who opened the twine holding it rolled and stated reading it, his eyes growing wider with each passing sentence.

Signaling Tripshank over to him, the two goblins started muttering furiously in Gobbledegook and waving their hands around the parchment, checking it for any forgery. After a few minutes of chanting and running their fingernails over the parchment, the goblins let out a defeated sigh and Ripblade said, "That seems to be in order, Regent Potter."

Cassiopeia smirked; Pollux had done a very fine job in breaking and entering not only the office of DLE Director, but also that of Ministry archives to achieve this most wonderful result.

"What can Gringotts do for you today, Regent Potter?" Ripblade asked.

"You will hand over all the Potter account activity in the past decades to me." She said coldly, internally enjoying the growing look of horror on the goblins' faces.

"O-Of course, Miss Black." Ripblade stuttered.

"Regent Potter." Cassiopeia corrected and continued; "I would also like if no one, and I mean no one else, even gets a wind of this new development."

The goblins' eyes gleamed with greed on this, they sensed an opportunity, there was nothing this human could do to stop them from profiting from this deal; and if they can get away with it, they would play both sides and make huge gains. Cassiopeia too saw the greed gleaming I the creature's eyes but she had a plan. There was an ace in her sleeve and she would ensure that the goblins would not dare betray her.

"Ah, but Regent Potter; you are also a member of House of Black, as is your ward being the Black heir; in such case, if any member of house Black, say, Lady Black asks us, we cannot possibly deny her the information she requested." Ripblade said smoothly, Cassiopeia mentally smirked.

"Indeed, but I, as Regent Potter can always close the account off, I cannot think that it would be such a good publicity for Gringotts if the Potters close their account here. Not to mention, the theft the goblin nation had tried and failed from the Black vaults. Surely, you cannot afford this when the darker families are trying to take the economy in their own hands with the new trading consortium on cards." Cassiopeia said.

The goblins were shocked again, how could she possibly know that they had tried to reclaim the goblin made armor from the Black vaults? House Black and Potter were two of the biggest accounts that Gringotts managed, their loss would bring the wrath of Ragnok upon them, accepting defeat, the goblins sighed. Still they would think of something, given time.

"You have our word, Regent Potter. No one will get a wind of this." Ripblade and Tripshank said.

"Word is just that, word; I require magically binding contract to that effect." Cassiopeia said.

The goblins eyed her in anger. 'How dare this woman disrespect a goblin's word?' They were known for their honour, not really but that's what they liked to think.

"Am I to believe that Gringotts had deceit planned in the deal?" she asked interrupting their staring.

"Of course not, Regent Potter; but do you have the contract drawn up?" Tripshank asked.

"Indeed, I have." She said and pulled out another scroll of parchment from her sleeve and handed it over to the goblins. Basically, it said that the goblins would not disclose the details of this meeting to anyone without the permission of Lord Potter or Regent Potter, given in person. It was a lot less than what she wanted but it would have been impossible to get them to agree not to steal from the House of Potter. The reports she had demanded would at least ensure that they don't get to steal any more from her.

"That seems to be in order" Ripblade said ad both Tripshank and he signed the contract with a blood quill; Cassiopeia did the same when she had confirmed the genuineness of the signatures and the quill.

She exited the bank with the same haughty look and sneer on her face but inside she was glowing with pride, not many people could say that they went blow to blow in a test of cunning and sneakiness with a goblin and bested them.

Still there was the problem of actually finding the location of Young Harry as all the standard and even more obscure scrying spells and rituals had failed, confirming that the child was hidden under some of the best protection wards there were, but where. That was the question that was eating away at the Blacks and one Amelia Bones.

* * *

**TIMESKIP**

**March 1, 1985**

* * *

It had now been nearly three and a half years since that fateful Halloween that resulted in more than one of the prominent pureblood families of England in ruins if not totally annihilated.

The Blacks and Amelia had completely failed in their effort, separate, to find Harry Potter or even get a meeting with Sirius Black; the re-election of the previous administration only making the task more difficult. While the Blacks were also restricted by the close scrutiny of Walburga and the fact that no one in the ministry would even be seen near the Black family with a ten foot long spear.

All was not that bad though, Amelia Bones had risen through the ranks of the aurors mercurially, she was now widely believed to be the successor of Barty Crouch Sr. who despite managing to catch Voldemort's most staunch supporters could not salvage his reputation due to his son being a Death eater and was barely clinging to his job. Due to the rise in her status in the administration, Amelia was able to secure Sirius an upper wing in the prison from the deepest level to quite in the middle of the jail with his cousin Bellatrix as the sole companion apart from the dementors. It was not much, but at least it was better than solitary confinement with twice the number of dementors around.

The Blacks too had been able to secure a repayment of a debt from Stan Acker, the Head of Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. He had agreed to inform them first and foremost should one of his squads be called for any incident related to Harry Potter in exchange of the debt he owned to Pollux be paid. That too was not much, but better than almost nothing they had managed on their own.

**4, Privet Drive,**

**Little Whinging,**

**Surrey**

Harry Potter was lying on his cot in the cupboard under the stairs, or what he knew as his room. He was suffering from common cold and had broken bones and severe burns on his right hand. The injuries were due to his burning the bacon that he was 'helping' his Aunt Petunia make for his Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley. It had been burnt only slightly as he had sneezed violently while flipping it off resulting it dropping to the open flame, he had also burnt his finger trying to save it from being completely toasted.

Of course, his uncle had not noticed his valiant effort or the fact that a four year old child was cooking and decided to teach the 'Freak' a lesson by holding his right hand over the gas stove and burning it till the bone was visible beneath the charred flesh; that was not all, he had then proceeded to beat the young boy to a pulp with a fire-poker resulting in the broken bones with the help of his four year old son, Dudley, who despite being so small in age packed quite a punch owing to his weight.

Vernon was a middle thirty year old man with little neck, impressive girth, Walrus-like moustache and brown hair; at nearly two hundred and ninety pounds, he was the bane of Harry's existence as he did not like Harry, at all. His wife Petunia was Harry's mother's sister, she had twice the normal amount of neck, beady blue eyes and blonde hair being skinny, quite opposite to her husband, and she resembled a giraffe and did not like Harry at all too. In fact, she hated Harry more than Vernon did.

Dudley, Harry's cousin, also four year old resembled his father in build and had already crossed a hundred pounds in weight; he had his mother's blonde hair though. He did what his parents taught him from the beginning; the 'freak' is beneath him and he could do anything he wanted without any fear of punishment. Over time, this teaching was so ingrained in him that he too quite hated Harry with a passion.

The 'freak' was Harry, four year old child who looked more like a three year old with perpetually messy raven hair and striking green eyes. He was quite skinny and pale and wore extremely large clothes which were cast off by Dudley. One of the most important qualities about him was that he was very intelligent and mature for his age.

He knew his parents were dead, he assumed his other relatives were dead too, or that they did not care about him that much; he knew the Dursleys hated him, maybe due to his apparent 'freakishness'. The same 'freakishness' that helped him deal with mountains of chores even starved and more often than not with physical injury. From however long he remembered, not so long seeing his age, the cupboard under the stairs had been his room; his name had been 'boy' or 'freak' and he was expected to do each and everything his relatives asked of him.

The happiest day of his life was when he went to the first day of nursery school with his cousin last year and learned that his name was not actually 'freak' or 'boy', rather it was Harry Potter, quite a nice name; nicer than what he was anticipating. Of course, he had asked his relatives about his parents and was told that they were worthless drunks and got themselves blown up in a car crash. The Dursleys never missed any opportunity to insult him or his parents.

Things were not always bad however, there was once a nice lady who noticed the large amount of injuries he suffered frequently and did not believe the lies Dursleys spread about him one bit. She took him aside and asked about his life. Hesitantly, he told the lady about his life at the Dursleys; the woman had tried to go to the police but due to Vernon's pull with the commissioner, nothing really happened and the lady had to move away from the area on some cooked up charges.

Through all this though, Harry never lost hope and prayed every night that someone would come and take him away from the Dursleys. Sometimes, he could vaguely hear a soothing voice telling him that it would get better, he would be alright but he was not so sure, maybe it was his imagination.

**12, Grimmauld Place**

**London**

Narcissa Malfoy nee Black sighed heavily as her aunt and more importantly, Lady Black Walburga, took her last breath. Her illness and death both were very swift, she had floo called Narcissa over in the morning for tea when she had suddenly fallen ill, it took merely ten minutes for Walburga's condition to worsen to almost dead and she was dead within the hour; Narcissa could not even call the healers as the illness had flared up so rapidly.

She sighed, the reality of the situation dawning upon her; there were no real Blacks alive now, no Blacks heirs. Of course her so Draco was the heir but it meant that the last generation of true Blacks had come. She tried to think how it had all gone downhill so fast; there were five Black children in her generation, what happened that not one of them would have any heir who was also a Black by blood.

Her thoughts drifted towards her sisters, one disowned; the other in Azkaban for serving the Dark Lord, she herself married to one of the most prominent and staunch supporters of the purity movement. She loved Lucius, really did but could not help but wish that he had been a better man.

Her thoughts drifted to her cousins, one dead in the service of the Dark Lord, the other in Azkaban for being his right hand man; she did not believe that, not one bit. Sirius did not have what it takes to serve the Dark Lord. He had always been a rebel, more likely; he was at the wrong position at wrong time and got himself in Azkaban. Still, he was her lord now, she would have to inform the others of this new development. With that in mind she turned to the study and flooed to Black Vacation Home in France.

The news was accepted fairly well by the elders. Being Blacks, they were not supposed to show any emotion so Narcissa did not doubt that they were not being genuine but what they were hiding from her was quite different than what she thought they were.

The Blacks hammered out the details of the funeral, Walburga, loath as they were to admit it, would be buried in a private ceremony in the ancestral burial grounds in Blackpool. Narcissa would inform the death of her relative to the ones incarcerated in Azkaban.

**Azkaban Island**

**North Sea**

**Very High—Security Level**

In the dementor infested prison of Azkaban, in its very high-security level, almost hundred meters below the sea level, a large black dog and a black she-wolf were curled up in opposite cells trying to ward off the chill as a result of dementor presence. Odd whimpers escaped their mouths every now and then. Suddenly, a warm presence started to find its way in the chill and the two animals rose simultaneously and morphed into a man and a woman, both having a striking resemblance to each other with their aristocratic face, high cheek bones, luscious raven black hair, now matted with grime; only differences being their gender and their eye colour, the man had striking stormy grey eyes while the woman had mesmerizing violet orbs, both pairs carrying same haunted looks. The man was named Sirius Orion Black while the woman was Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, both of them famous, or infamous, as you look at it, in the magical world.

The warm presence slowly made its way down the corridor and a white light filled the hallway, if one squinted, they could barely make a silvery-white bear giving off the light. Finally the light came to a halt outside their cells. They could make out a largely built man, a prison guard that they had both seen numerous times before, accompanying him was a tall woman, having a regal face like the prisoner duo; she had curly blonde hair and stormy grey eyes.

Sirius Black frowned when he saw Narcissa Malfoy nee Black standing outside his cell. 'What is she doing here?' he thought; maybe she was now a prisoner too but the lack of manacles around her wrists disproved that notion almost immediately. Bellatrix' eyes lighted up as she saw her sister; 'Maybe Cissy too declared her loyalty to the Dark Lord and killed off some muggle filth to be here.' She thought but quickly banished the train; 'Where is the Dark Lord now, you are rotting off in Azkaban and he does not even come to free you.' A voice taunted in her mind, sounding oddly like her other sister, Andromeda. 'Shut off you blood traitor, the dark lord shall come and free his Bella and then we shall rule over the world.' She shouted in her head and the other voice died down.

"I would like to talk to my sister in privacy." She said to the auror guard and handed a money pouch over to him. He nodded and walked away. Narcissa waved her wand and another patronus, this one in form of a flamingo, appeared.

"Bella." She greeted warmly, "cousin Sirius." She continued albeit her voce was cold.

"Narcissa. Cissy." Both of them said at the same time raising their eyebrows at her.

"Aunt Walburga is dead." She announced after trying to think up a way to give the news in a graceful manner.

Sirius whooped and danced a jig, "See you old hag, you are rotting inside the earth while I am still standing." Sirius shouted, still dancing.

Bellatrix did nothing but shouted, 'Shut up, you mutt." And turned to Narcissa, "Who is the next Lord Black, then? She asked.

"Sirius." Narcissa whispered almost afraid of the reaction of her sister.

The reactions from both Sirius and Bellatrix were identical, both were frowning at Narcissa. Finally Bellatrix asked, "How? Wasn't he disowned by Aunt Walburga?"

"She reinstated him in the family when his betrayal of the Potters and being the right hand man of Dark Lord became public." Narcissa explained.

Both Bellatrix and Sirius were unable to contain their snorts at the information, though only one did so to convey their mirth. Narcissa was about to turn back and walk out being called by the aurors but Sirius stopped her, "What happened to James' little boy? Harry." He asked.

"No one knows, he just vanished after that night." Narcissa answered seeing the pleading look in her cousin's eyes.

Sirius' heart constricted at this, he felt as if someone had twisted the knife that was stabbed in his heart by Peter at that Halloween. He should not have gone after Peter, he should have taken care of Harry, he should have been there for him. Almost scared, he asked in a broken voice, "He is not dead, is he?"

"I don't think so, it would have been public news if the last Potter died. The bloodbath for their fortune would not have went silently." Narcissa replied feeling sorry for the man even if she had no love for him, he was still family and as the saying went; 'Once a Black, always a Black.'

Sirius nodded at her and hugged her a little from behind the bars and let go, for the first time appreciating that he had a family outside as well, a family he had ran away from not so long ago.

Narcissa, though shocked, returned the hug as best as she could; the reunion with her cousin giving her utmost joy. She hugged Bellatrix and walked out, with her the warmth of her patronus too slipping out of the again abandoned corridor.

* * *

Long after Narcissa had walked out, during the night, Sirius was still clashing with the thoughts in his head, the guilt gripping him tighter than ever as he allowed himself to think about the green haired boy he had left behind in his quest of revenge. Bellatrix had been surprisingly quiet ever since her sister's visit. Trying to distract himself from his guilt; he tried to speak to her.

"Oy Bella." He hollered.

"What?" she snapped, irritated.

"Guess I am the new Black of Black, then." He continued, undeterred from her anger, like he used to do in his childhood.

"So?" she asked.

"I am your lord too." He grinned, the absence of dementors, making the mirth easier to convey.

"I guess this is the case." She agreed trying to get him to say his piece and shut up.

"That means you would have to do whatever I ask of you." He grinned even wider now.

Bellatrix eyed him like he was mad and then started laughing, the sound odd due to the fact that it had been a genuine laugh, not the cruel ones that she used to give with the Death Eaters. "You may be my lord, little Sirius; but my master is only Dark Lord, only he can order me around." She said, still laughing.

"Why?" Sirius asked in a whisper but she still heard him.

The question stopped her laughter; she tried to think of a cruel answer but could not do so. Finally, she answered, "I was supposed to do so by the Black family, and a true Black does not turn their back upon family."

"Yet you turned your back on Regulus." He accused.

"What?" she said, incredulous.

"You turned your back on him, he was on your side and yet he died; why would you not even question that Lord of yours, what happened to my little brother, your cousin?" Sirius ranted pacing in his small cell.

"One of yours could have killed him just as easily, why do you think that the Dark Lord had anything to do with his death?" she asked.

"Oh, please. Aurors did not start killing till June, 1981 and Dumbledore would not let us kill; you know that as well as I do; besides he was not seen in any of the battles we had with Death Eaters." Sirius replied.

"I don't know, then." Bellatrix said irritably and turned away to face the wall, anything to escape those grey eyes staring at her.

"I talked to him, you know; he was so scared, said he went in too deep, that he was scared that Voldemort would kill him, that he wanted help, that he wanted you too to pull out before too long." Sirius said catching her attention once more.

"What?" she said trying to stall the conversation before it became too painful for her.

"He wanted your help, but you wouldn't even look at him; that you were away busy torturing and being Voldemort's pet ; what happened to family, then?" Sirius asked coldly.

"That is none of your business, you ran away before any of that, you are no family of mine." Bellatrix snapped and continued to ignore him for the rest of the night.

* * *

While all this was happening, miles away, in Wiltshire, Lucius Malfoy was happily sipping his champagne; his plan had worked, well, like a charm. A little poison, time delayed stasis and the Lady of House Black was dead. With the blood traitor still holed up in Azkaban, he was no danger to Lucius' cunning plot. Soon enough, the elder Blacks would meet their ends too, naturally preferably; Blacks were not known for their long life spans and he had a lot of time. His revenge on that foolish blood traitor will be complete, he just needed to wait some more.

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A/N: So, How was it?

Read and **review.** Don't make me beg!

Next chapters should be lighter in theory! So, rejoice for the almost end of doom and gloom.


	5. The Sun Shines Through

THE CHOSEN ONE

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter and the other characters; they are the property of J. K. Rowling. I am merely playing with them, no money is being made from this fic by me.

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**A/N:** Here is the third chapter of my fic 'The Chosen One'. But before that; in response to reviews questioning the presence of wards around the Dursleys. Well Dumbledore may have wanted to wash his hands off of Harry but he is still a potential candidate for being the BWL. So, he has to keep him safe, not to mention, Harry is still in danger from DEs as shown in canon; Longbottoms are a prime example. So, the wards…

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**Warning: **There is some mention of physical and emotional abuse of a child in this chapter. Stop reading right here if it bothers you. You have been warned.

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Now the next chapter; Enjoy…

Chapter 3

The Sun Shines Through

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**March 7, 1985**

**Black Vacation Home**

**France**

The Elder Blacks were having a discussion after the last rites of Walburga had been done with.

"I still stand by my opinion that Lucius is somehow involved in Walburga's death." Cassiopeia stated.

"But how, Cassiopeia dear; Lucius had not even met with the woman for the past month." Irma said.

"Well, he could have poisoned her; a well-timed stasis charm would do well to kill her after some time so as not to raise any suspicions." This time it was Pollux who answered.

"Wouldn't the human body's metabolism expel the poison from the body by then?" Arcturus asked.

"No, there are certain poisons that completely bypass the metabolism, there even has been a precedent; Lord Barnabus Borgin was arrested and tried by the auror department for a similar case early in the century, he was however, proven innocent because of the lack of evidence on the aurors and gold changing hands." Pollux replied.

"Well, that ends that; Lucius has declared his intentions, then. Liked or not, Walburga was still the Black. He has declared feud against us." Melania said and the others agreed.

"We would have to plan our further course of action now, we cannot exactly declare blood feud against House Malfoy and eliminate them." Irma stated.

"No we cannot," Cassiopeia sighed, "we bide our time, for now and make sure that Lucius pays for his crimes dearly once the House of Black rises again." She continued.

"Her death can be a blessing in disguise, though." Arcturus said.

"How so?" Melania asked.

"Now Sirius is confirmed Lord Black and since he is in Azkaban, I am Regent of House Black for all purposes. Lucius now cannot maneuver us to change the heir, can he?" Arcturus replied.

"Also we get some more leeway in the search for young Harry now that Walburga is gone." Pollux said.

"On that account, dear Pollux; How goes the search?" Cassiopeia asked.

"Not so well" Pollux sighed, "House of Black is seen with open distrust now-a-days, our only hope is that young Harry makes an appearance in the magical district or that Accidental Magic Reversal Squad gets to him."

"Don't lose heart yet, cases of potent accidental magic are the most frequent between the ages of four to seven. It's only a matter of time before young Harry makes an appearance on the sensors." Melania said trying to rouse the hopes of her family.

**Time-skip**

**May 31, 1987**

It was now nearly two years since the death of Walburga Black. Lucius Malfoy was getting a bit antsy, his son Draco, while all but being the heir of Black family and all, was still not granted access to the family vault. Not even a trust fund was set up for him, there was only so much that he could force er persuade Narcissa to withdraw from her trust fund; and what was worse, Regent Black, Arcturus was not even meeting him. Cursing the name of the infernal Blood traitor Black for not dropping dead when was required of him, he read the financial report for the previous term.

The Malfoy fortunes had taken quite a hit due to bribes given to secure his and his allies' freedom after they had been caught by the Ministry in the line of duty for their lord. Even larger part of his fortune was spent in filling the pockets of all levels of bureaucracy to secure a strong position within the Ministry of Magic for when his lord returned. All was not so bad though, the Houses of Crabbe and Goyle owed him huge debts by now and had entered into almost servitude like alliances with the Malfoys. They did not have any money but they had muscle, and muscle was what he would exploit from them to further strengthen his position amongst the Pureblood elite.

House Parkinson, on the other hand, had a fair bit of old money, and a daughter of Draco's age. He had shrewdly secured a marriage contract with a hefty dowry attached for his son. The negotiations with the House of Greengrass were also on cards for the next Lady Black. He hoped to secure both the girls for his son even if he had to give some of his fortune away, after all, Greengrass did not have any sons and Lord Greengrass himself suffered from a rare form of Dragonpox and was dying slowly but surely.

Still, there was only a matter of time before Arcturus and his generation of Blacks kicked the bucket and he would be able to secure the Black fortune for himself, he just could not wait to lay his hands upon some of the heirlooms, not to mention, the rarest of rare dark art books that the Blacks were notorious for.

But there was a small suspicion in his mind upon the heirdom of Draco, he could not shake it off even as he tried to reason with himself numerous times, there was a small chance that the Blood traitor Black had done something to foil his plans, he had a knack for it. To get rid of this apprehension, he had even secured a visit with the Blood Traitor in Azkaban but the upstart had the gall to smirk at him, that and Bellatrix was not even throwing insults at her cousin, which was safe to say, mental, even for her. He had tried to use Legilimency on Black in desperation after setting him up in the required state of mind with many leading questions, nothing, he found nothing. A master of mind arts he was and he was met with nothing. Safe to say, he had withdrawn his probe instantly and left the prison in a worse mind than when he had entered.

Perhaps, it was time to arrange demise of the elder Blacks. He continued making plans and plots for the rest of the evening.

**July 31, 1987**

**4, Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging,**

**Surrey**

Harry Potter woke up in his cupboard and was instantly on high alert. Today was his birthday, you see, and his birthdays did not tend to be the best day of the year for him, quite the opposite actually. It was only three years back that he had found out that he had a birthday, from his school teacher; and from then on, his Uncle and family made it a vow to make Harry's birthdays as miserable as possible.

He had lived with his Aunt and Uncle ever since he remembered; when he had asked about his parents, all he had got was that they had died in a car crash and he was left in the Dursleys' care. His existence in the Dursley household had been nightmarish; the Dursleys, especially the male ones, took great pleasure in demeaning and belittling Harry at every given opportunity. Anything that they found out Harry liked, they used to either break it or take it away from him.

Harry remembered how he had befriended a black dog which was a stray in the park; Dudley, his cousin, had gotten wind of it and had informed Vernon, his uncle; Vernon had took malicious glee in putting the dog down claiming it was rabid. Things had progressed like this to the point that Harry had become extremely emotionally guarded before, first, the Dursleys; and later, anyone he did not trust which was everyone after the nice lady had been sent away by the police due to Vernon's political sway in the area.

He had tried telling himself that their abusive treatment of his did not matter, that he was better off without being noticed, but a traitorous part of hi wanted to be appreciated, to be loved and looked to Petunia every time he did hid chores or he was in trouble with Vernon. When he was little, she had shown him some affection, like patting his back on a job, or rather chore, well done but as he got older, well, Petunia's ignorance and indifference to his condition hurt him more than Vernon's slaps ever did.

Harry quickly got out of the cupboard as the noise of the Dursleys filing into the kitchen came in, he went by the stove and started to cook bacon and eggs for breakfast as Petunia had instructed him all those years ago. Silently, he helped his aunt in serving the breakfast and sat on the dining table quietly, quickly wolfing down on his insufficient portion. Trying to slip out unnoticed, he was foiled by Vernon's voice.

"Where do you think you are going, freak?" Vernon said.

Harry said nothing but meekly sat back on the table and waited for Vernon to be done with him with minimal damage. Vernon, however seemed to have other plans; he had a rather wicked grin on his face and his eyes were gleaming as they did when a very important business deal came before him.

"Don't you want your birthday present?" Vernon said, still grinning wickedly.

Harry dared not look at his uncle, he had a very bad feeling about this but a small part of him could not help but hope. 'Really'.

"Well freak, I have decided that I would tell you something about your parents as today is your birthday." Vernon continued and Harry nearly salivated, he kept his eyes averted as the years had taught him to be at utmost caution with Vernon but he was too happy and excited to hide it all and a small pleased expression was seen on his face. Vernon noticed it too and his grin broadened, 'this was going to be fun.'

"Well, first start with your father, shall we;" Vernon started and Harry was just able to hold his tongue, there were so many questions he wanted to ask, 'How did he look like? What did he do?' "your father was a drunkard." Vernon continued and Harry's hopes dashed, he felt despair, disappointment in himself and anger, righteous anger at the fat tub of lard sitting in front of him as he listened his parents being demeaned, talked about like criminals by his Uncle.

"A hooligan, he was; knocked that bitch up somehow and bred you, a freak like the two of them and their hooligan friends." Vernon ranted.

"Shut up." Harry mumbled sneaking a glance at Petunia who was indifferent as ever. He felt a red hot rage course through his veins, a pounding in his ears, strangely feeling like he could conquer the world.

"What did you say boy?" Vernon's sharp ears had picked up the sound.

"I said shut up Dursley." Harry roared and Petunia flinched as the glass plate hanging on the wall in the kitchen exploded with his temper, Vernon, however, was oblivious to the danger he was in.

"Or you would do what, little runt, sell yourself up on the streets like your bitch of a mother." Vernon said still in the same malicious tone. 'Maybe the freak would break enough that it would kill itself and save me the trouble.' He thought.

"You, you…" words failed Harry as the pounding in his veins reached a crescendo and a scream emanated from his throat, with that a veritable wave of power swept through the house gaining energy from the protections placed around it and rendering them useless, all the glass exploded and due to the amount the Dursleys had in the kitchen, the three of them were literally shredded and were blown back from the wave; the electronics in the house all sparked and were rendered useless. Finally as the wave ended, there was a huge explosion in the car outside and the last Harry saw before falling unconscious was torn bodies of his so called family.

**Ministry of Magic**

**London**

**Level Five**

In the office of Accidental Magic Reversal Squad which usually dealt with, as its name suggested, Accidental magic and Splinching while apparition, Arthur Small had just settled on his desk when an alarm sounded off in the department, waving his wand over the device he found that the cause was Accidental Magic in a muggle area.

'Looks like the Potter boy decided to make an appearance.' He thought as he had exhausted all other options after Pollux, his old friend and once life-saver, had asked him to look for the boy years previously.

"What is it, Boss?" Stanley Perkins, a new recruit asked and interrupted his thoughts.

"Nothing, just a Splinching; I will go check it out, you lot finish that bloody paperwork." He said and portkeyed away to the location.

He found himself in a plain muggle area with rows of identical houses. Without taking any time to ponder about this lack of individuality, he hurried to a partially destroyed house that was literally bathing in pure wild magic. He walked to the center of the destruction which seemed to be a small crater in what had to be the kitchen. Reaching there he saw a small boy about five years of age lying unscathed in the crater while his family was lying at a distance in bloody pools, the amount of blood telling that they had long been dead.

Looking closely at the boy, he could only gasp in shock; the messy black hair was unmistakable to anyone who had the pleasure of knowing James Potter and he was one of those persons, "Merlin, that's the Potter boy." He breathed; quickly waving his wand over the boy he checked that he was alright if exhausted all the while wondering whatever had happened there.

Quickly he waved his wand around the neighbourhood chanting spells to absorb the lingering magic and keep any sensors from detecting the magical incident that had happened there, Pollux had asked for utmost secrecy after all. That done, he picked up the boy and Portkeyed to the Black Vacation House to deliver him before he had to alter memories of the neighbours of the dead family.

**Black Vacation House**

**France**

The Black elders were going over the finances of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black in the past decade when the wards announced the arrival of a portkey.

"A Master Small and young master to be seeing master Pollux." A house elf, Tippy, announced.

"I will see that." Pollux said and walked to the reception area where he found Arthur Small holding a small boy of about five-six years of age in his arms, the messy black hair the only indication that it was the elusive Harry James Potter.

"Arthur, I take it this is young Harry Potter, then?" Pollux said, feeling no need to waste time in pleasantries.

"Yes, indeed he is;" Arthur replied, and then seeing the concerned look on his friend's face, continued "he has used quite a large amount of magic so he is unconscious, but unharmed; the people he was with though, they were not so fortunate. I will tell you more later this evening after going over the memories of the neighbours.

With that Arthur handed the boy to Pollux and took his leave via the portkey.

"That was strange, even by his standards." Pollux muttered to himself and then looked at the unconscious boy held in his arms; "Let's get you settled then, young Harry; I doubt you would like to wake up right now given your exhaustion as Arthur told me."

He walked back into the study after settling Harry down in one of the empty guest rooms.

"You look exceptionally happy, Pollux; do share." Cassiopeia said seeing Pollux smiling broadly.

"Oh, nothing monumental; I just received our elusive young heir from the Head of Accidental Magic Reversal Squad." Pollux said trying to be nonchalant.

"That's great news, Pollux; where is young Harry now?" Arcturus said happily.

"He is resting in one of the guest rooms, according to Mr. Small, young Harry exhausted himself from his outburst." Pollux said.

"But he is alright, isn't he? He is not injured, is he?" Irma and Melania asked at the same time.

"No, from what I can tell he is quite alright, just exhausted." Pollux told them as Cassiopeia went to check up on the boy herself.

"That warrants a celebration!" Melania exclaimed and waving her wand made a bottle of fine wine and some decanters appear, waving her wand once again, she filled each one and levitated them to her family members. Picking one for herself and another for Cassiopeia she left to the guest room after Arcturus had given the toast in the name of Harry.

She found Cassiopeia sitting beside the sleeping child running a hand through his hair looking at her with an expression that could only be defined as motherly. Melania smiled to herself and made her presence known "He will be alright." She said laying a hand on Cassiopeia's shoulder.

"Yes, he will be." Cassiopeia said with determination, accepting the glass of wine from Melania but there was something in her expression which made the other witch frown.

"You look… troubled." Melania said cautiously.

"It's nothing." Cassiopeia said in a monotone but Melania was not fooled for an instant, she had seen too much of the Black emotionless mask and voice to be fooled anymore.

"That stopped working on me after the first five years of my marriage into this family, Cassiopeia; it is something." She said firmly.

"He looks so much like Sirius did whenever he visited here, so small for his age." Cassiopeia whispered.

Melania frowned, she had not noticed it before as her attention was attracted towards the normally cold Cassiopeia Black showering a child she had not known for a single second but now that she saw the child, she could see that he was very small for his age, looking five years instead of seven like he should.

"They abused him." Melania breathed quietly but there was no mistaking the anger in her voice.

Cassiopeia nodded, "I have found broken bones healed wrong, and signs of bruises and cuts on his back and ribs. She too was having a very hard time keeping a lid on her temper.

Taking a deep breath, Melania calmed herself and once again laid a hand on the other woman's shoulder who she could tell was close to murder someone in rage. "We would know more of his living conditions by the evening, dear. Calm yourself, if it is as we fear, young Harry would require us to be level headed even more." She said hoping her words would have an effect on the fuming witch.

Cassiopeia too took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, "You are right, of course, Melania; he will need us to be level headed." She mumbled but made no motion to leave Harry's side.

Melania saw her sister in law's jaw set in determination and nodded once before leaving the room hoping that her worries were unfounded.

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**A/N:** And that's it; I know it's shorter than the previous ones but I was too hard to write an I felt it enough to leave here. Again, I apologize for the late update but I was busy in the exams and have written this in a two day gap between the written and practical exams; hopefully, it's well written.

I know, I have written Vernon's thought calling Harry as 'it', I did it so to show that Vernon did not even deem Harry human and thus was a truly evil character. Petunia and Dudley did not really deserve to die but well, collateral damage.

Again I apologize for the long wait and then a really short update… hey that rhymes! Do tell me ow did you find it via **review** or** PM**.


	6. Answers Lead to More Indecision

THE CHOSEN ONE

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**A/N:** Here is the fourth chapter of my story 'The Chosen One'. In this chapter you get to see some powers that young Harry has developed during his stay with the Dursleys; as well as some of Amelia Bones through the years (1981-1987) as she has been absent as of recent chapters. Enjoy.

I am sorry for the slow update and not responding to your reviews but my laptop's screen broke previous Friday, it is still undecided whether it will be repaired or I will get a new one, so **updates will be slow**. Sorry.

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter and the other characters; they are the property of J. K. Rowling. I am merely using them for your and mine amusement. No money is being made by me through this fic.

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Chapter 4

Answers Lead to More Indecision

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**Black Vacation House**

**France**

Harry Potter was lying on the bed in the room which Cassiopeia or rather, Aunt Cassiopeia, as she had insisted to be called, had deemed his. He was still pretty indecisive about the whole situation he found himself in. _After all, how many orphaned children got their relatives, which they didn't know about in first place; jumping out of whatever hole they were hiding in and telling them that they were their relatives?_

They said that they all were the cousins or siblings of his grandmother; they had even showed him their evidence in form of a tapestry which showed the Blacks being related to the Potters via Dorea Potter nee Black's marriage to Charlus Potter. But Harry was not sure if he bought it. He had seen other children's relatives in Privet Drive and they all had similar builds, facial structures, something, _anything, _similar in them. Harry did not have any similarity to the Blacks. They all were tall, elegant with angular cheekbones and regal faces; all having stormy grey eyes. Harry, on the other hand was short, too short for his age, skinny, his face did not have any angularity about it; he had a square jaw; and his hair was at best described as a crow's nest in contrast to the Blacks' straight silky raven locks.

Though his emerald green eyes made him slightly more than average in _handsomeness _category, the Blacks were handsome without even trying; the kind of people Aunt Petunia liked to see and gossip about from magazines.

_But they had evidence._ A small voice countered in his head. _Evidence that could easily have been faked. How hard would it be to make a wall hanging showing your family's names?_ Another reason that Harry was hesitant to believe the whole situation was the matter with Dursleys. In his years with them, they, particularly Uncle Vernon, had made quite an effort to break his spirit. The use of such elaborate ruses was not beyond them, quite the opposite. Harry remembered quite clearly how they, with Aunt Marge, had tormented him with a distant aunt of Piers' being a relative of his; they had even gotten the fake papers to support their claim. Thus, the years he had spent with the Dursleys had left him with a lack of trust around strangers._ And these people were definitely strangers._

As his thoughts drifted towards his former caregivers,_ he would not call such animals his relatives_; he recalled the incident that started all this mess. He had, well rather, some kind of energy shooting from him had, gutted them in the morning. _What if these people hand me over to the police after learning of the incident?_ He certainly had had enough experience with the policemen that he did not want to be arrested for murder; basically that's what everybody would see it as. _How are you supposed to make people understand that some energy thing shot out from your body and created an explosion that killed your relatives?_ And that was a fat chance when people were actually willing to listen to him. But they did not, they never did. He tried not to let it affect him, but it hurt.

_No, _he decided, he could not stay here; there were just too many reasons not to. Mind all made up, he gingerly got off the bed and felt his way in the darkness of the room._ Hadn't they known that he would need glasses?_ Another point against them. With years of practiced stealthy silent feet, he made his way out of the room and into the corridor. He had been walking for a couple of minutes when he felt like he was being watched. Very slowly, he glanced around but he could not make out any person through his limited eyesight. He walked ahead, keeping close to the wall, but the feeling of being observed did not leave him. _You cannot move around this house without one of us knowing._ Hadn't Cassiopeia said that? His mind filled with dread, he tried a trick that he had developed with his _powers_. He willed himself to be unnoticeable, completely concentrating on the feeling when he had simply walked before Dudley's gang without them noticing him. He had since then, tried this trick more times than he could count and the only person it had failed against was Uncle Vernon. He had been too terrified of the man for the trick to work properly.

Behind him, Cassiopeia smirked; the child had very good instincts. She was following him under the cover of disillusionment and a silencing charm and still he felt that he was being watched. Then she saw him fade away from the view. _A notice me not charm? How…intriguing?_ She pulled out her wand and cast a homonem revelio. The corridor came up empty. The child must have run away, without her hearing any sound of footsteps. _A notice me not and a silencing spell! Intriguing indeed._ Keeping the wand in her outstretched palm, she chanted "Point me, Harry Potter." The wand spun in her palm and pointed to the corridor on the right. She followed him at a sedate pace; she was nearing on his perceived location by the alert wards when she felt the input fed to her by the wards completely fade away.

Harry had run away after performing his trick; the feeling of being watched had, more or less, subsided after that. But he could not shake it off completely. A noise coming from the corridor behind him only increased his unease. Concentrating even more on the need of being unnoticed, he forged ahead; trying to put as much distance he could between his pursuers and himself.

Cassiopeia turned another corridor and tried the point me spell again. It came up empty, her wand rotating wildly in her palm. _The child had somehow managed to hide his presence from the crude observers like the wards and the spell._ She would have to use more refined approach in pursuing him now. Feeling really impressed, she let her magical senses loose through the wards and the house; trying to detect even the feeblest of presence when she felt a slight disturbance moving towards the main gates. Smirking, she cancelled her disillusionment and silencing charms and apparated to the foyer with a soft 'pop'.

Harry felt himself getting closer to his destination, namely the exit from the house. He had no way of knowing it, for he had not seen much of the house in the time he had been awake but he could tell. The corridors were getting broader and more… grand, to his limited eyesight._ Just how big was this house?_ He mused in the back of his mind. Stepping out of the corridor he found himself in a large open area, which should be the foyer of the house. He could vaguely make out a metal gate. He walked towards t when he heard a dreaded voice.

"Not bad, young Harry; not bad at all. In fact, I am quite impressed." Cassiopeia said with a smirk.

Harry was so startled by her unexpectedly sneaking up on him that his _trick_ failed and he faded into the view. Cassiopeia's smirk widened knowingly.

Just when Harry thought to run out of the gate, she took out what looked to be a twig, from the sleeve of her robes and gave it a little flick in his direction._ What was that supposed to do? _Harry thought. The gate shut with a loud clang and Harry got his answer. _A magician?_ Harry gulped, she looked bemused; but there was approval in her eyes.

"Come with me; it's time you get some of your questions answered." She said in a stern tone.

Harry nodded and followed her into the study. He had questions alright; he just could not bring himself to trust these people to give him the right answers.

**Police Station,**

**Little Whinging, Surrey**

Arthur Small arrived in the police station in a business suit and headed straight to the local chief. He entered his office after a knock and instantly had to cover his distaste for the plump man. The chief, Jacobs, as the nameplate said was a fat man, in his fifties, he had an unkempt appearance and his office was in total disarray; he could vaguely make out someone under his desk.

"Chief Jacobs, I am John Smith from White and sons Insurance. I am here to study the files of the Dursleys' case." Arthur said shaking the man's hand.

The chief's eyes glinted with greed. This was an opportunity he could make much of. "I am afraid, Mr. Smith; we cannot just allow anybody to study ongoing case files." Jacobs said.

"But sir, surely you can take into consideration, ah…special circumstances surrounding their deaths." Arthur said making a point of flashing a wad of conjured cash he had kept ready for such persons.

The chief got an even greedier grin on his face and grunted; "I suppose we can take into consideration your special circumstances." He made a show of taking something out of his drawer to fasten his pants and lumbered out of his chair after a bit.

"I will lead you to the officer in-charge of the case." He said leading Small out of the office and to a cubicle in the back of the station.

There was a young police officer, around thirty years of age, with blue eyes and brown hair, tanned skin. "This is Officer Jordan" the chief said gesturing to the man, "Officer Jordan, this is Mr. Smith from insurance company. He needs to study the files of Dursleys' case."

"Of course, chief." The officer said and quickly handed over the files to Small.

Arthur had kept his wand ready, flinging two confundus charms on the policemen; he copied the file and altered their memories, making them term the case as an accident due to short circuit dangerously close to the parked car; he apparated away with a crack. He just had to collect the memories his colleagues had collected in the meantime, and of course, alter their memories too, and his debt would finally be paid.

**Bones Manor**

"Is that all, Monsieur Beaumont." Amelia Bones asked the man sitting before her in her study. She had been given some scrolls pertaining to the dark families of Britain's less than honest dealings across the channel.

"Oui, Mademoiselle Bones; zat ees all I 'ave on the persons 'ou 'ad asked for." The Frenchman said, nodding in emphasis.

Madam Bones, too, nodded and with a flick of her wand, put the scrolls away in a hidden cabinet.

"Ze debt my father owed to 'Ouse Bones; is now considered paid?" the Frenchman asked tentatively after Madam Bones had lapsed into silence for a few minutes.

"Oh, I am quite sorry, Pierre; my thoughts just drifted away." Madam Bones said with a start and then realizing that she had been asked a question, said; "Yes, the debt Andre owed to House Bones is now considered paid, in full."

The Frenchman sighed in relief and stood up, "Eet 'as been a pleasure meeting 'ou Mademoiselle." He said giving her a bow and kissing her knuckles.

Madam Bones nodded, somewhat awkwardly, and watched the man depart. When she was sure that the man had walked out of the hearing range, she squealed in delight and did a little victory dance in the study before composing herself with a light shade of pink staining her cheeks. _If only Susan saw you now, what would she think?_

* * *

She got up and lighted the fireplace with a flick of her wand; putting a handful of sparkly green floo powder, she called "Andromeda Tonks" and stuck her head in the now green fire.

A small, cozy sitting room came into her view after a few moments of spinning uncontrollably; "Andromeda." She called into the room.

Instead of the elegant woman she was expecting, she was answered by the heart shaped face and spiky pink hair of Andromeda's daughter, Nymphadora. "Madam Bones!" she almost squeaked, Amelia could be quite stern looking and it was one of those expressions she had shown the little girl. "Mum is in the kitchen, I will call her."

The girl quickly went away without bothering to hear her reply or inviting her into the house for that matter. Amelia chuckled quietly to herself when she heard a thump as Nymphadora, already known for her clumsiness, fell down after tripping on something. A few moments later Amelia was greeted by the woman she actually wished to see.

"Amelia, come on through." Andromeda said, looking at her friend.

"Sorry Andromeda, cannot do; I would like you to come through to the manor. I have some things to discuss." Amelia said apologetically.

Andromeda raised an eyebrow but did not say anything, just nodded. "Nymphadora, I am going to Amelia's; tell your father when he returns." She yelled in the direction of kitchen and stood up.

"Okay, mum" could be heard as Amelia stepped away from the fireplace.

A few seconds later, Andromeda Tonks stepped down gracefully from the fireplace and cleaned her robes.

"Have a seat, Andromeda." Amelia said, filling up a glass of firewhiskey for her friend and herself.

Andromeda got a good look at her friend and saw that Amelia looked… fidgety. The best way to compare it was with her own daughter Nymphadora, who was always squirming in her seat with restless energy.

"What has got you this excited, Amelia?" Andromeda asked sipping her wine.

In response, Amelia waved her wand and summoned the scrolls Pierre Beaumont had given her some time ago. "See for yourself." She said excitedly.

Andromeda looked through the scrolls and Amelia was disappointed to see no reaction from her friend. She was hoping for at least, an agape mouth, an exclamation, a swearword, anything; instead, she got nothing, not even a raised eyebrow; just a calm "Hmm."

After studying the various scrolls for a few minutes, Andromeda looked at Amelia with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Well?" Amelia asked impatiently, her fidgeting had stopped and she had started to somewhat doubt herself after Andromeda did not look too optimistic.

"While you have a good amount of evidence," Andromeda began, "these are nothing more than tantalizing hints to bigger crimes across the continent, crimes, that have been more or less made invisible to even the most curious of observers." She said and Amelia slumped in her chair.

"But would it not be possible to…er, coerce them into following our agenda by threatening to reveal these to the public?" Amelia asked.

Andromeda raised an eyebrow as she contemplated the question, "Blackmail, Amelia? I never quite thought you had it in yourself." She said slowly, her mind still on the question, calculating the response of the people, trying to think any way they could make it work. It was, after all, for her only decent family. The only family member who even acknowledge her existence and relation with him.

Amelia smirked at Andromeda's surprised comment but seeing that the other witch had her attention elsewhere did not say much. Andromeda was her best hope to make a decent case in Wizengamot as she had been raised for the first eighteen years of her life as a Black, even if she was not considered one now, she was a formidable foe in regards to politics; but her influence had been all but decimated when she was cast out of the family. Amelia, though, could use all help Andromeda could give her as loath she was to admit it, even after being in Wizengamot through Bones family seat, politics had never been her strong suit.

"This plan of yours could work, in the best case scenario; but as is often observed, plans rarely survive the initial contact with the real situation, which in our case would leave us with no way to influence these families." Andromeda spoke after a few minutes of silence.

"Please elaborate." Amelia said in a somewhat strained voice, she had put too much effort and resources in gathering these scrolls and did not want that all to be in vain. Ever since that fateful Halloween night, she had strove to find any way she could help Sirius, any speck of dirt she could find on the Wizengamot members to coerce them into their favour; it had been hard, very hard; the dark families were very secretive and covered their tracks well, while, on the other hand the light families usually dealt in open and thus had no dirt to find, not to mention, the war with Voldemort had nearly exterminated all the light and neutral families. It made her task even more difficult as the Wizengamot now was skewed in Dark families' favour.

"Let's see our situation, shall we?" Andromeda started. "We have evidence about _gifts _given to politicians so that certain cases were dropped against these certain people. Also, we have not so solid evidence of some items, books, artifacts being stolen from across the continent while certain people were seen visiting these countries. But that is all we have, rumors and conditional evidence; we do not have any solid transactions, even memories, which would lend us an upper hand in getting some leverage over them." She finished with a sigh.

"But if we threaten to release it to public, they would lose their support; wouldn't they?" Amelia said stubbornly.

"Please think it through leaving your emotions outside for a moment Amelia, do you think that they care about their public opinion when they could just shove gold down the Ministry's throat and have their way? And for that matter, do they even have any favourable public opinion?" Andromeda said pleading her friend to think this clearly.

Amelia saw Andromeda's desperation in making her see things clearly. Her feelings for Sirius were clouding her judgment; when she left them out, she could see that her case was too feeble to stand the test of a hostile Wizengamot. Sirius Black had no supporters in the Light, or in the Dark families. And if they lost the case once, there would not be a second chance.

"You are right, Andromeda." She said with a sigh, "As always." She continued in somewhat bemused but deflated tone; it was one thing she admired about the woman, Andromeda could shut her feelings out and think things through when it mattered the most. And Amelia knew that Andromeda had equal, if not more, interest in getting Sirius out of the jail.

"Don't give up just yet, Amelia. We just need to dig deeper; look at everything again, Sirius would be free in no time, we just have to wait for a chance to present itself, and if it doesn't, we would create our own chances." Andromeda spoke, drawing the younger woman into a warm, comforting hug; knowing that Amelia's spirit had been hurt today and she needed her to be there.

Amelia just sighed, leaning into the comforting embrace. _ We just have to wait, we will create our chances; but why do I get the feeling that we would be presented with a chance, just not in a way that we have anticipated in even our wildest dreams._

**Black Vacation House**

**France**

"So, young Harry; do you know anything about your parents?" Melania asked in her usual motherly voice.

She was, as usual, flanked by her husband Arcturus, a little distance from them were sitting Pollux ad Irma.

Harry nodded, "Yes ma'am." He said in a small voice, for all his confidence, all these people could make it vanish in an instant.

"Now, now dear; no need for this ma'am; you may call me Aunt Melania." Melania said in an encouraging tone. She knew better than most how intimidating facing that many Blacks at a time could be.

Harry had not had much contact with these people as he had been in his room most of the time but he liked Melania, _no, Aunt Melania, _already. She was warm, had a motherly feel around he and she commanded his trust, just like Mrs. Nancy.

"Umm…my…caregivers" _he would never call them his relatives_ "told me that they were unemployed drunkards, hooligans who died in a car crash." He said but quickly added, "But I do not believe them for a second."

The Blacks were enraged, they had not known about Lily Potter much, but Dorea's son was far from being an unemployed hooligan. James Potter was a professional Quidditch player before the war heated up and he joined the aurors with Sirius.

"That is as far from the truth as can be, Harry." Melania spoke softly, still with a warm smile on her face to put him at ease around them.

That gave Harry something to be happy about. His parents were not worthless drunks; the way Melania spoke about them made them up to be respectable persons. He wanted to ask so much more about them but he held his tongue, he would get his answers first; then he would ask about his parents.

"But, tell me; have your…caregivers told you about your heritage?" she asked.

"My… heritage?" Harry asked, uncertainly.

"Yes Harry, your heritage. Explanations for strange things happening around you?" she prompted.

Harry thought back to all the strange things that had happened around him, things flying to him when he desperately needed them, his vanishing _trick_, and in the recent months, a glimpse of his caregivers' thoughts whenever they acted strangely, all to save him from getting hurt from them. There had been no explanations. They just said that he was a _freak_ and anything they caught was a result of his freakishness. The fear of anything imaginative or deviating from their _normal _routine, Harry felt that he would get some of his answers now.

"No, they did not explain anything." He said, hoping that Melania would just hurry up and tell him.

"The thing is, to put it bluntly, your parents were wizards and you yourself, are a wizard." Melania said.

_Wizards…that explains so much. "They knew, that's why they feared anything not normal. That's why they called me a freak." _Harry did not realize that he had just vocalized his thoughts.

The Blacks were even more enraged at this, but they did not say anything. It was clear ta Harry was abused at his relatives' home and abused people tended to be mistrustful of everyone. They needed to be calm, getting angry would only cause even more mistrust.

"Can you tell me more about my parents?" Harry asked after some moments, letting the information told to him sink in.

"We do not know much about your mother, Lily; but your father, James, was a professional Quidditch player, he was a friend of Sirius Black, my grandson. He married your mother straight out of Hogwarts, the school where they teach magic, causing quite an uproar in the pureblood community as she was a muggleborn witch." Arcturus said.

They told Harry about his heritage and the first war with Voldemort's forces, his parents' involvement in the war, their own involvement, Sirius' supposed betrayal and the end of the war due to Neville Longbottom. About the importance of blood purity in the wizarding world, their own stance on the subject over the years. They were hesitant to at first, but Melania convinced them that the road to gain Harry's trust would be easier if they come clean with him regarding these events. And it was his right to know. They explained how they had gained custody and how it took them so long to look for him. Harry had not taken it well; they had not expected him to.

**That evening**

The wards alerted the Blacks of the arrival of a portkey. Pollux was informed by a house elf that it was Arthur Small so he went to greet their guest.

"Arthur, good to see you again." Pollux greeted in an exaggeratedly cheerful voice. _Keep them off balance._

"It's good to see you again, Pollux." Arthur said shaking the older man's hand. "I just came to hand over the memories."

"Everything went well, I take it?" Pollux asked.

"Yes, everything went quite well. There was a little problem with the muggle Bobbies but I sorted it out." Arthur said in a prideful tone.

Pollux raised an eyebrow at the mention of Bobbies.

"You will understand from the memories." Arthur said seeing the gesture.

Arthur handed the vials containing the memories of the neighbours, Marjorie Dursley, himself and the Bobbies over to Pollux. Pollux took out his wand and started muttering spells under his breath waving it over the vials and sometimes pulling the memory strands out. All the while Arthur eyed his wand warily._ You could never be too careful with a Black._

Arthur cleared his throat after a few minutes passed without any comments from Pollux.

"Yes?" Pollux said impatiently, looking up from his examination of the memories to Arthur.

"The debt between you and I, is it cleared now?" Arthur asked in an obviously annoyed tone.

"Ah yes, I completely forgot," Pollux said looking very sorry, "the debt is considered paid in full." With that Pollux waved his wand at Arthur muttering "Obliviate! You will consider the debt still unpaid."

Arthur had gotten a glazed look in his eyes when the spell hit him, his clarity returned when Pollux finished his command.

"I will take my leave now." Arthur said, in a confused voice.

"Of course; have a good day, my friend." Pollux shook his hand one last time and saw as Arthur walked out of the house to disapparate.

_Just like last time. You are slipping Arty boy!_

* * *

**A/N:** And that's it. How was it?

Tell me via review/PM.

**PS:** For those who are moaning about the story still being in the past (pre-1991 era), I wish to create a solid back story of the events that happened after Halloween, 1981; that I deem necessary in order to give a satisfactory reason for all the future and ongoing developments. If you are going to moan about that, well there are 140k+ stories on with Harry Potter as a central character (only English language), you are free to read any of those.

**PPS:** I am posting this through a friend's computer. My laptop's screen broke and we are still undecided if we want to get it repaired or get a new one (it's fairly old; 5 years) so the updates will be **slow**. And that is my only reason for not responding to reviews.

Until next time…


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